Contest

The Iowa Newspaper Association is excited to begin accepting entries for the 2023 Better Newspaper Contests. These contests, held annually, were developed to foster competition and quality among Iowa’s newspapers. To encourage participation, INA will again offer “coupons” for three free entries to newspapers who did not enter the 2022 contests. In addition, INA will…

Few of us get into journalism to win awards. Many more of us seek to learn every day, introduce and highlight interesting people and the work done in our towns or better the places we live through connecting people economically. So why participate in the INF Better Newspaper Contest? The awards program helps us do…

As journalists we don’t often take time to savor our work. There’s always another story to write, another deadline to hit, another product to get out the door. Preparing entries for the INA contest each fall provides an opportunity to take a moment to look over the body of work we have done in a…

We’re getting down to the wire. The deadline to submit entries for the Better Newspaper Contests is Friday, October 16. All entries must be submitted and uploaded to the betternewspapercontest.com website by 4:30 p.m.; hard-copy examples must be postmarked on or before October 16. In past years, many entries were submitted in the 1-2 hours…

What a year! Wait — it’s only September. To say the least, 2020 has been a challenge for newspapers. We crossed boundaries we didn’t even know existed. We discovered how to do business without a handshake. Has everything been a bed of roses? Absolutely not. Truthfully, we are still getting poked by thorns each day. …

We love contest time! Another deadline is tough to add in the early fall when literally everything about running a newspaper feels full bore. But it offers an opportunity to review our work, take pride in it, and consider all we can be doing better for the next time around. Something we just can’t do…

The Better Newspaper Awards for us are not just about the plaques and certificates we receive. They’re a reflection of our hard work from the year before and encouragement to continue to be a reliable, relatable community newspaper.  These awards not only provide validation to our staff but show our readers that we are providing…