Rode, Pulaski, Reimer win awards at WNA contest

Three NEW Media journalists were honored March 24 for their reporting excellence at the Wisconsin Newspapers Association’s Better Newspapers Contest awards banquet.

Sports editor Morgan Rode led the charge with a first place for best sports story from his coverage in 2022 of the state wrestling tournament. Rode highlighted each of the schools at state in individual stories instead of trying to contain it in one story, and his crown jewel was the story about Oconto Falls’ Clayton Whiting winning his fourth consecutive state title.

“A lot of strong, consistent coverage of many facets from an event,” the judge for the category wrote. “Great writing and quotes.”

The 2022 state wrestling tournament ran Feb. 24-26 and included 14 boys wrestlers from the area. Along with Whiting’s state title, several other wrestlers placed in the top six while in Madison, making for roughly 10 pages of content in the 16-page sports section the following week.

Rode was thrilled with the honor and noted how rewarding it is to cover events like state wrestling.

“State wrestling coverage is one of my favorite things to attend during the year, and 2022 was a special year with so many great finishes, highlighted by Clayton’s fourth state title,” said Rode. “Getting to follow wrestlers all season and learn their stories during their time in high school is fun, and then to get to see their hard work pay off at state with strong finishes is extremely special. It’s a joy putting their journeys and accomplishments into words.”

City editor Lee Pulaski received a second place nod in the ongoing/extended coverage category for the continuing saga of Ann Retzlaff, a former campground owner who allegedly led law enforcement on a chase and claimed she was trying to rescue one of her employees from human trafficking.

The contest period for articles was from August 2021 through July 2022, which covered Retzlaff’s first disappearance out of state, followed by her being arrested again in April 2022 when she resurfaced at a restaurant in Wittenberg. It also covered the civil case where Retzlaff lost her campground property west of Gresham due to defaulting on a bank loan and owing back taxes.

The judge in the contest were impressed at how the case has not been the standard fare for court cases.

“This continuing coverage of Ann Retzlaff’s battle with the courts has got to be one of the most bizarre, interesting, and entertaining series of articles that I have ever read,” the judge wrote. “The writer paid great attention to details, easily explaining the numerous legal situations while highlighting Retzlaff’s most memorable quotes. This competition was a tough decision, but this entry was a strong second place.”

Pulaski was pleased about the honor, commenting that the court case ranked as one of the strangest things he has written about.

“Most cases have lawyers going back and forth, but Ann Retzlaff has thumbed her nose at every turn, claiming she’s a sovereign citizen not subject to the laws of the United States,” Pulaski said. “The only unfortunate thing is that the judges didn’t get to see where the case has gone since last July, especially with the judge allowing her to leave the state again for a Christmas vacation, and she’s hiding once again. Now that she no longer owns her campground, what are the chances she’s going to come back to Wisconsin?”

Rode and reporter Luke Reimer shared a third place win for the best sports pages. The division NEW Media competed in focused on weekly publications with a circulation between 2,250 and 4,500, and judges saw the pages that go in the Shawano Leader, Oconto County Times Herald and Wittenberg Enterprise and Birnamwood News were keeping readers informed about the high school sports scene.

Pulaski said that Rode’s tireless efforts to present sports pages that grabbed people’s attention week after week are unparalleled.

“Morgan came to us with the idea of making sports a separate section last year, and I think that made all the difference to not only increase the amount of sports covered in Shawano, Oconto and Menominee counties but make it look interesting enough to grab readers,” Pulaski said. “The sports section is one of the most commented in our lineup, and the work that Morgan and Luke put in to keep up on sports shows we’re among the elite in athletic coverage.”