N-R honored in ONPA contest

The News-Register picked up 15 awards, including six first places, in the Oregon Newspaper Publishers’ Association Better Newspaper Contest for 2019.

The McMinnville paper finished second for multi-weeklies in the General Excellence category when honors were announced Thursday and Friday at the ONPA’s annual conference.

The News-Register earned firsts for its Roots to Roofs section, website, headlines and writing; plus seconds for enterprise reporting, photography, the visitor’s guide and web design; and thirds for stories and photos.

Associate Editor Racheal Winter edited the winning Roots to Roofs section, to which the staff contributed stories. Winter also picked up a first for headline writing for a selection of entries.

Reporter Tom Henderson won first place in the Best Writing category for a selection of work. He placed second in Enterprise Reporting for stories about protests against locking up immigration detainees at the federal prison in Sheridan.

He also shared a first place award with young reporter Emma Nolan, then a Willamina High School student, for coverage of a school walkout.

Reporter Starla Pointer placed third in the Best Writing category. She won a first-place award in the Lifestyle category for a feature about saxophone player Fred Graff, and another third for a Personality feature about winemaker Wayne Bailey.

Photographer Marcus Larson won second place for a photo essay and another second for a single feature photo for coverage of Carlton’s Chalk Walk. He placed third in the Feature Photo category, as well, for a picture of the school walkout.

Sports editor Logan Brandon placed third with a story about the mass exodus of Linfield College volleyball team members last fall.

Indulge Yamhill Valley editor Hilary Berg edited the second-place winning visitor’s guide.

Editor Ossie Bladine and the staff received first place for its website, www.newsregister.com, and second for web design.