Southeast Missourian wins 28 awards in statewide contest

The Southeast Missourian has amassed 28 awards -- including 11 first-place finishes -- in the Missouri Press Association's 2014 Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards cover a broad range of categories, including news and feature stories, photography, design, sports coverage and general excellence.

In awarding first place for general excellence, the judges praised the newspaper's mix of local and national news; quantity of local information, including briefs, events and obituaries; sports coverage; editorials; photos; feature stories; and advertising.

The newspaper's coverage of the discovery of Jacque Waller's remains and her estranged husband's subsequent guilty plea garnered several awards, including first-place finishes for best breaking news story and for Collin Smith's information graphic using a map and photographs to lay out the evidence in the case.

An editorial about the case, explaining why Clay Waller received a light sentence, took second place for best editorial.

The paper's coverage of the Eighth District congressional race also garnered multiple awards, including first place for best coverage of government and best news or feature series and an honorable mention for best news story.

Several individual staffers won multiple awards for their work, sometimes competing with themselves in the same category. Below is a complete list of awards and the people who won them, where applicable.

First place

* Staff: General excellence (March 29, June 7 and Nov. 19, 2013) and best front page (June 5, 7 and 30, 2013)

* Ruth Campbell: Best story about education ("OMG: Why can't Johnny write?")

* Rachel Crader: Best sports columnist (April 17, May 10 and Nov. 27, 2013)

* Fred Lynch: Best sports photograph ("Notre Dame soccer")

* Erin Ragan: Best news story ("Tarrillion documents")

* Erin Ragan and Emily Priddy: Best breaking news story ("Waller's remains found")

* Erin Ragan, Matt Sanders and Bob Miller: Best coverage of government and best news or feature series ("8th District congressional race")

* Laura Simon: Best news photograph ("Four-alarm fire")

* Collin Smith: Best information graphic ("Trail of evidence")

Second place

* Staff: Best editorial ("The Waller case"), best sports pages (Jan. 18, May 30 and Nov. 17, 2013) and best overall design (May 31, Aug. 2 and Nov. 17, 2013)

* Taylor Crowe: Best editorial cartoon ("Groundhog," Feb. 7, 2013)

* Erin Ragan: Best business story ("Are incentives worth it?")

* Amity Shedd: Best story about rural life or agriculture ("Harvesting big bucks")

* Collin Smith: Best page design ("Solved, unsolved")

Third place

* Staff, best editorial pages (May 19, Sept. 1 and Oct. 20, 2013)

* Emily Priddy, best breaking news story ("Shooting leaves two dead")

* Amity Shedd, best story about the outdoors ("A rare breed")

* Collin Smith, best information graphic ("Solved, unsolved")

Honorable mention

* Jeff Breer: Best sports feature story ("Central senior Mikey Jones")

* Taylor Crowe: Best editorial cartoon ("Cardinals," Oct. 3, 2013)

* Keith Lewis, Bob Miller and Ruth Campbell: Best news or feature series ("'Gone Girl' filming")

* Fred Lynch: Best sports photo ("Freestyle at the fair: Motocross")

* Bob Miller and Erin Ragan: Best news story ("8th District local panels")

* Erin Ragan: Best story about history ("20 years later: the '93 flood")

Pertinent address:

301 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO