Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.See The World-Herald's Society for News Design award winners on the Viewfinder blog.
* * *
I grew up in St. Louis as a Cardinals baseball fan, familiar with the famous boast of pitching great Dizzy Dean: "It ain't braggin' if you can back it up."
Let me tell you straight: Readers of The World-Herald and Omaha.com enjoy some of the very best sports coverage, photojournalism and newspaper page design in America.
Consider this:
The World-Herald's staff last week earned a "Grand Slam" in the Associated Press Sports Editors contest. The award is the new gold standard for sports sections among America's daily newspapers.
The newspaper also won seven Society for News Design Awards of Excellence. It is our best showing ever in one of journalism's most international contests. The contest named 717 winners from 29 nations. With seven awards, The World-Herald finished in a tie for 25th in the world. Only 11 other U.S. newspapers won more awards — and that list included the likes of the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal.
One of The World-Herald winners was staff photographer Alyssa Schukar in the category for a Single Photo, Spot News. The photo, called "Building Confidence," was of a young Afghan boy waiting for food along with burqa-clad women on a snowy day in Kabul, Afghanistan. I suspect that this will not be the last journalism award won by Schukar and staff writer Joseph Morton for last year's coverage in Afghanistan.
All of our other design awards were for sports pages. While many photographers, illustrators, page designers, writers and editors helped with those pages — too many to name here — all six sports winners had one thing in common. They were touched by the talented hand of Deputy Presentation Editor Tim Parks, who has become known within our industry as one of the top page designers in the nation.
Some of those same pages also were honored in the AP sports contest.
That contest puts The World-Herald in even more elite company as one of only four U.S. newspapers earning the Grand Slam. The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman also won a Grand Slam in the 75,001-175,000 circulation category. The Boston Globe and New York Times won Grand Slams in the over-175,000 category.
To earn a Grand Slam, a newspaper must be judged as one of the Top 10 newspapers in the country in four areas: daily sections, Sunday sections, special sections and website presentations. Criteria included high-level reporting, compelling writing, smart analysis and commentary, creativity, innovation and helpfulness to readers.
This is the first year websites were included in the contest. In prior years, the gold standard for sports departments was called the Triple Crown, and The World-Herald won Triple Crowns in three of the past four years.
Sports staff writer and columnist Dirk Chatelain also won a writing award for his analysis of Nebraska football recruiting in Ohio and the rest of the Big Ten.
And two of our staff's multimedia entries placed in the Top 10 for websites our size. One, called "Big Ten battlegrounds," offered a database with every football recruit who signed with a Big Ten school from 2002 to 2011. The other offered a database of College World Series history.
Omaha is the next best thing to a major league sports city. It's home to the CWS and neighbor to one of the nation's premier college football programs. Division I operations like Creighton basketball and University of Nebraska at Omaha hockey draw big crowds. High school loyalties run deep. And Omaha draws major NCAA tournaments and other events.
While our content is aimed squarely at serving our readers, it is heartening when our journalistic peers recognize its excellence.
One of the wonderful aspects of the AP sports contest is that newspapers are asked to submit some sports sections from randomly selected publication dates. That means consistent high quality is essential for the type of winning track record The World-Herald enjoys.
It takes an incredible team effort to pull off such a string. Behind the success are three key newsroom leaders: Sports Editor Thad Livingston, Director of Photography Jeff Bundy and News and Presentation Editor Dave Elsesser.
They have helped organize and inspire many employees whose dedication, creativity and passion place The World-Herald among journalism's best.
And that ain't braggin'.
Contact the executive editor:
402-444-1277, mike.reilly@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
