SPORTS COVERAGE

Plaques Sponsored by Iowa Park Leader
Certificates Sponsored by Hood County News (Granbury)

Division 1
Dailies 5,865 Circulation and Above

1. The Lufkin Daily News

1. I think the Lufkin Daily News has an excellent sports page. The coverage is broad, covering everything from high school to college to professional sports. The photography was excellent as well, especially the one-handed catch photo. 2. Once again, lots of variety in coverage. Although much of it was from AP, I was glad to see many sports included. The golf and outdoor pages were a little unique.

2. The Daily Sentinel (Nacogdoches)

1. Quality of writing too wordy. Get straight to the point. Pictures great but too big. Advertisement placement and picture placement could be smaller. 2. Had amazing action photos.

3. Texarkana Gazette

Good pictures, very good writing. Could cover more outdoors. Could cover major leagues. Good coverage on local sports and college sports. Good catchy headlines.

4. The Paris News

1. Great lead on cover story. Layout very good. There was no gray space. Headlines were a bit bland, didn’t grab me. 2. Good headline on front page “flip script,” good way to enter the story. I like that the second paper didn’t just cover high school.

Division 2
Dailies Circulation Up to 5,864

1. Kilgore News Herald

Good leads on major stories. Good headline and color on section front. Good variety of coverage. It’s good to see a big story about high school tennis.

2. Waxahachie Daily Light

Good long jump pic. We’re glad to see girls high school sports given as much prominence as boys! Leads are straight news. How about some more interesting writing instead of straight line? Sports Extra has good range of coverage, good design. Needs some different kinds of stories and more varied photos.

3. Henderson Daily News

Good story and use of big photos. Good coverage of title game.

4. Athens Daily Review

We’re glad to see girls sports featured prominently.

Division 3
Semi-Weeklies

1. Wise County Messenger (Decatur)

Strong photos (except for red eyes on cover) and presentation lend drama to the pages. Excellent headline, “Puff go the Dragons.” Unusual looking sports front. Like the creativity, but too much white space below the fold. Great story about Alisha Parker. Excellent photos inside.

2. Hood County News (Granbury)

Great cover befitting a state championship. Strong layout, design and headlines. Layout, design and color are this special section’s strengths. Writing could use more creativity throughout.

3. Mansfield News-Mirror

Good looking section front. Too bad photos on second page are blurry. Thorough coverage. Inside pages could use some graphics to vary layout. Cover layout OK, but center photo could be bigger for more impact.

4. The Center Light and Champion

Good looking sports page. Like the red on the team towns and the forecasters’ box. Photos are blurry and lose impact.

Division 4
Weeklies 2,600 Circulation and Above

1. Azle News

Above-the-fold front is all chopped up. Focusing on one racer’s story would have given the top more impact. Great photos captures expression on cover. Good photos throughout. Like the Q & A column.

2. The Wylie News

Good use of color. Top head gets lost – larger would be better. Head type size needs variation Stories get too even play. Focus on one and make it the centerpiece . . . like this front does. Good looking cover. Writing needs more creativity.

3. Tri-County Leader (Whitehouse)

Photo size and headlines need variation. One story should get bigger play than the rest. Photo quality needs improvement. Writing is good and goes beyond who won, who lost.

4. The Pittsburg Gazette

Writing and headlines need active verbs. Good photos. Stories need more spark in leads.

Division 5
Weeklies 1,501 Circulation to 2,599

1. The Diboll Free Press

Good writing and creative leads, plus the impact of good photos, make this an interesting, readable section. Great lead. Sharp b/w photos. Who says you need color for impact? Great section!

2. Iowa Park Leader

Great cover photos. Writing needs to focus more on the people in the stories, as the photos do. Spice it up with active verbs.

3. The Springtown Epigraph

Good quality of writing, range of coverage, photos, layout/design and suitability of headlines.

4. The Farmersville Times

Good range of coverage, photos, layout/design and suitability of headlines.

Division 6
Weeklies Up to 1,500 Circulation

1. The Princeton Herald

Excellent writing and story leads. Good clean, polished layout. Nice pickup of accent color from the color photos. Well written racing story. Cute photos – good idea to give them the pro-racer touch.

2. Crowley Star

Good writing distinguishes these pages and helps them stand out from the pack. Lots of action in the photos. Stories in the special section get lost in the ads. Good writing. Didn’t like the chopped-up look of the cover, too many boxes. Good photos and layout inside.

3. Alvarado Star

Good layout. It’s nice to see women’s sports get prominent play.

4. The Leonard Graphic

Good color. Ad detracts from sports front. Too many stories squeezed on the page. Writing needs spark. Great color and photo. Again, ads compete and distract from page.