Winners of SNPA 2001 Literacy/NIE Awards announced

Kentucky papers fared well in the Southern Newspaper Publisher's Association annual literacy conference. The Lexington Herald-Leader won two first place awards, The Courier-Journal won a first place honor and The Winchester Sun was a first place winner.

Winning first place in the Best Literacy project category, circulation 75,000-150,000, was the Herald-Leader’s newsroom's publishing of two chapter stories, "The Penny Tree" by Jack Gantos and "Hank the Cowdog" by John Erickson.

Judges also liked the components that Educational Outreach did to enhance reader participation. The components included sending out over 2,000 writer's journals to students, running a 12-week contest and giving those that entered the contest a Super Summer Stuff packet that included 5 post cards that had the families doing literacy activities with the newspaper and then returning the postcards throughout the summer to win more prizes. Over 550 super Summer Stuff packets were sent out to subscribers.

And a first place award was given in the Community Service category, circulation 75,000-150,000, for the creation of the new Herald-Leader high school senior scholarship. The new requirements now ask students to NOT be in the top ten percent of their graduating class, but have average or above SAT/ACT scores.

“We 're looking for a student who got a slow start in their high school career or who had "natural" disasters happen that caused their grades to not be the best,” said Kriss Johnson, Educational Outreach Coordinator for the Herald-Leader.

Seniors write an essay and have a letter of reference from an adult who has witnessed their success.Johnson created and facilitates this scholarship program.

The Courier-Journal’s award, in the 150,000 and over circulation category, was for its “Summer Reading Spectacular,” designed to keep students reading during the summer break.

The C-J mails calendars for June, July and August to students who register and they keep track of their reading and mail the calendars back to the newspaper at the end of the month with both student and parent signatures. The paper prints a reading honor roll in the paper with the names of students who have read at least 8 hours during the month. At the end of the summer the C-J sends any student who has been on the honor roll all 3 months a premium - this year it was a cap.

The program is tied in with the newspaper’s local student-oriented page, 4 Your Info, which appears each Monday. Also, the newspaper invited its summer readers to send snapshots of themselves reading The Courier-Journal. These were enlarged and used at the C-J's State Fair Booth so that students got additional recognition.

The Winchester Sun for in the Best Literacy News Articles and Editorials category for papers under 30,000 circulation. Editor Bill Blakeman said the award was for the newspaper’s ongoing efforts at publicizing literacy efforts in the county and the work of the local literacy council.

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