Farmington Daily Times wins awards for page design, overall quality

FARMINGTON – The Farmington Daily Times won a third place General Excellence award and four other individual and staff awards in the National Newspaper Association’s 2021 Better Newspaper Contest.

The Farmington Daily Times competed mostly in the Daily Division of the group's Editorial Contest.

Editor John R. Moses said the national contest was new ground for paper, which has only competed in state and western regional contests during his four-year tenure.

“It’s nice to see how we stack up against papers from other states, and this is one of the contests that gives print page designers a chance to shine.” Moses said. “They work hard and are in the background, yet we owe them so much.”

The Farmington Daily Times has previously won general excellence awards in three of the past four New Mexico Press Association Better Newspaper contests.

The Farmington Daily Times "serves its readers well with expert design and a top-notch local news team,” a contest judge wrote. “If you are in the know in Farmington, it's because you are a lucky reader of the Daily Times. Great job."

The paper also won three awards for front page design:

• Second place for a cover that depicted the Diné Pride Cruise celebration event in June of 2020 in Window Rock, Arizona;

• Third place for a cover featuring pot farm-related arrests and community updates by authorities in Shiprock in November of 2020;

• Honorable Mention for a cover in September 2020 featuring an article about how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the careers of three local bands.

A contest judge praised the skills of page designer Jaime Eden, who earned the second place win. 

“Strong, clear, compelling headline copywriting is complemented by thoughtfully crafted typography and an emotionally resonant feature-story photo that grabs the eye, provokes curiosity, and delivers reporting that answers the questions deliberately posed by the page designers,” the judge wrote. “Very well done.”

Moses won second place in the Daily & Non-daily Division, circulation 6,000-9,999 competition for Best Editorial  with “Our View: Farmington and the Four Corners will bounce back, and it will take some work.”

The editorial was part of the Rebuilding America special edition produced by the Daily Times in 2020 as part of a USA TODAY NETWORK-wide project to dive deeply into the challenges facing local economies. This editorial focused on San Juan County’s economy and ways to move it forward.

Winners will be recognized at the organization’s annual awards ceremony Oct. 2, during the group’s 135th Annual Convention & Trade Show in Jacksonville, Florida.

“There were 1,229 entries in the (NNA’s) Better Newspaper Editorial Contest and 180 entries in the Better Newspaper Advertising Contest for a total of 1,409 entries,” NNA spokesperson Kate Richardson said in a news release Wednesday. “A total of 509 awards were won by 83 member newspapers in 33 states.”

Contact the newsroom at 505-564-4624, or via email at news@daily-times.com. 

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