Leader staffers nab 3 Better Newspapers awards

The Shawano Leader received three awards last week in the annual Wisconsin Newspapers Association Better Newspapers Contest.

Tim Ryan, reporter and columnist, took second place in the Best Column category for weekly newspapers.

The columns submitted for the award were “How America would have lost World War II,” a tongue-in-cheek look at how World War II would have gone if Donald Trump had been president then; “Coronavirus creating new business opportunities,” a take on the then-shortage of toilet paper and other necessities at the start of the coronavirus pandemic; and “Conspiracy theories another virus we need to beware,” which looked at the rampant rumors and gossip spreading when news of the coronavirus first broke.

“Brilliant and spot on” was among the judge’s comments for Ryan’s work. “Smart, funny and heartbreakingly cynical. Ryan perfectly sums up the age of alternative facts. Is it over yet?”

Lee Pulaski, city editor, took third place in the Reporting on Local Education category in the weekly division, a drop from his first-place honors in the daily division last year.

The articles for the award were “Virtual ceremony brings grads together in spirit,” which covered how Marion High School was preparing its graduation ceremony in May 2020 when the coronavirus was in full swing; “A purple purpose,” a story that covered a Menominee Indian High School campaign that highlighted dementia issues on the reservation; and “School panel hesitant about livestreaming board meetings,” covering a meeting of the Shawano School District prior to the pandemic that questioned the need for livestreaming the Shawano School Board’s meetings.

“The virtual graduation story is great with multiple sources, and I was especially glad to see the reporter included quotes from students,” the judge wrote in commenting on Pulaski’s work. “The story about the school board’s resistance to live-streaming is important bringing to light a lack of transparency. The story on dementia awareness is a bit rough around the edges. There are a couple of typos, and word choice is not exact.”

Pulaski and Carol Ryczek, editor-in-chief, shared a third-place award in the Best Headlines category. The headlines they submitted were “Make America Grape Again,” which headlined a photo of a Baltimore oriole going after some grape jelly in a bird feeder; “What cheese curd would Jesus try?” for a feature on Sacred Heart Catholic School administrators doing videos to keep students’ spirits up during the pandemic; and “A moment in the slimelight,” which headlined a photo where Sacred Heart principal Gary Cumberland was doused in slime.

“There have been a lot of takes on ‘Make America Great Again’ over the last four years, but this was a new one for me,” the judge commented. “Very clever!”