Courier wins several awards

From Staff Reports

SAN MARCOS – The Houston County Courier won several awards from the Texas Press Association (TPA) at its annual conference and trade show, which was held last week in San Marcos.

The categories the newspaper won in range from the association’s contest highlighting sports photography to feature writing.

Polk County Publishing Company publisher Kelli Barnes, who attended the conference, said of the wins, “We have a great team at the Courier.

They are committed to quality community journalism and Houston County is stronger for having a legitimate news source. Thank you, readers and advertisers, for your continued support.”

TPA, which is headquartered in Austin, is one of the nation’s oldest and largest newspaper trade associations. It represents 429 Texas newspapers, which participate in the annual contest. The contest breaks down the publications into different divisions based on circulation numbers and frequency of publication.

The Courier, for this year’s contest, was in Division 5, which was also shared by sister paper the Tyler County Booster.

According to its website, the organization “promotes the welfare of Texas newspapers, encourages higher standards of journalism, and plays an important role in protecting the public’s right to know as an advocate of First Amendment liberties.”

The awards won by the Courier staff for work produced during last year’s span of eligibility for the contest are:

• Sports Photography – Third Place (Larry Lamb)

• Feature Writing – Fourth Place (Alton Porter and Jan White)

• Headline Writing – Fourth Place (Jan White and Larry Lamb)

• News Writing – Third Place (Chris Edwards)

Courier news editor Chris Edwards said being a part of such a prestigious trade organization was “an honor in of itself,” and added that it was “beyond awesome” for the newspaper to be adjudicated as one of the best in a crowded field.

The four other newspapers in the PCPC family: the Polk County Enterprise; San Jacinto News-Times; Trinity County Standard and the Tyler County Booster, also won multiple awards for their published works from last year.

The quarterly East Texan lifestyle magazine, from PCPC, also won an award in the “Best Magazine” category.