LA GRANGE–The Rock-dale Reporter won six awards at the 93rd South Texas Press Association Convention over the weekend, including four first-place plaques.
After last year’s hiatus—the paper did not enter-the contest—The Reporter placed second in general excellence, behind the Fredericksburg Standard Radio-Post, and third in sweepstakes behind The FSRP and The Port Aransas South Jetty.
“It was very rewarding to have both newspapers published by our family take top awards in this year’s contest,” said Ken Esten Cooke, the publisher of The Reporter and the Fredericksburg paper. “I learned a drive for quality community journalism from my father and we have been blessed by dedicated, loyal employees at both locations.”
Judges said The Reporter has “a great balance of hard news and community features” and does a very comprehensive job of covering the community.
Editor Mike Brown’s humorous columns, editorials, page design and lifestyle pages all won first place plaques and his serious column writing took third place.
Brown’s humorous columns explored the events of the Winter Olympics and discussed the difficulties of using/programming a robot vacuum cleaner.
“Mike’s thoughts on Olympic curling are gold,” said judges.
“It’s always an honor to be recognized by the South Texas Press Association. There are a lot of excellent community newspapers in STPA,” Brown said. “The commendation for general excellence is a special one because that category covers every single facet of putting out a newspaper and reflects the hard work and dedication of our entire staff.”
Cooke said: “The work by the Rockdale staff has continued to be top quality, even as the town has struggled with job loss and its share of bad news. But we have deep roots here and will always be boosters of this town and support it in any way we can.”
Of Brown’s first-place editorials, judges said, “Great locally focused editorials about issues important to your community. A perfect example of the paper being the conscience of the community.”
The Reporter’s page design won top honors for consistency and clarity because of the easy to read and pleasing type, according to judges. “Good use of color without being overbearing,” judges said.
“The broad coverage and interesting features made your lifestyle pages the clear winner in this category,” judges said.
Cooke was this year’s recipient of the STPA Chester Evans Award, which is presented to individuals who have demonstrated a longtime commitment and service to the organization.
Bill and Peggy Cooke, Publishers Emeritus, received the honor in 2001.
Brown, Darrell Keach, former publisher of The Robstown Record and now special projects manager for the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Nueces, and Kim Jung, advertising sales manager of the FSRP, paid tribute to Ken Cooke’s commitment to journalism.
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