It was a banner year of media achievement for the Westby Times in 2007, thanks in big part to the devastation left behind by severe weather which struck the region last August. \

It’s a well-known fact in the media that tragedy sells and along with it comes a wealth of human interest stories and photographs, which in 2007 proved worthy of statewide recognition for the Westby Times.

During the 2007 WNA (Wisconsin Newspaper Association) Better Newspaper Contest awards banquet, held on Feb. 1, 2008 in Wisconsin Dells, the Westby Times was honored to be awarded five first-place finishes, along with three second-place and one third-place certificates.

The newspaper brought home gold in the following categories: Special Section Editorial, Enterprise/ Interpretive, All-Around Newspaper Photography, Photo Essay and Overall Page Design. The newspaper received silver recognition for: Sports Page Design, Feature Story and General Website Excellence, plus the bronze for Feature Page Design.

This year’s contest was judged by members of the Michigan Press Association. There were 2,803 entries and 134 newspapers that participated.

Judge’s remarks about the Westby Times first-place award-winning entries included:

--- Special Section-Timely response to a community tragedy. Good use of photos to tell the story and very smart to continue coverage over several weeks;

--- Enterprise/Interpretive Reporting-Great visual descriptions and good use of multiple sources;

--- All-Around Newspaper Photography-Lots of faces and readers like to see people. Enjoyed the Westby Times “In a Glance” and “Second Glance” pages;

--- Photo Essay-The only entry that truly told a story. Photos really showed the ‘devastation’ of summer floods;

--- Overall Page Design-Nice presentation of different topics with good photo content.

Comments on the second- and third-place finishes ranged from very appealing photos which capture a variety of activities to touching feature referring to the Danneke Schallig story on her life inside a concentration camp.

Westby Times editor, Dorothy Jasperson was pleased with the recognition the newspaper was awarded in 2007, but stated that the continued success of any newspaper is dependent on reaching a wide range of readers and keeping a strong advertising base. Jasperson noted that as wonderful as it is to be rewarded for a job well done by your peers in the media, her personal gratification comes from knowing that all her hard work is read and appreciated weekly by the people who mean the most, the Westby Times subscribers and advertisers.

“Without them a picture might be worth a thousand words, but we couldn’t afford to print it. It just goes to show you that giving a whoop for Westby, Coon Valley and Chaseburg is a good thing. We’ve even expanded our whoop toward Cashton, La Farge and Viroqua, which goes to show you that it’s hard to keep a good whoop down, or a driven editor unless she runs out of gas,” Jasperson said.

The Westby Times has earned 18 first-place awards at the annual WNA event since the year 2000, including the prestigious general excellence award received in 2003.

The Vernon County Broadcaster received a first-place award for continuing website coverage and five second place certificates for spot news coverage, general website coverage, best use of art service in an advertisement, and in the memorial and the feature categories.

The Coulee News in West Salem was also named the 2007 Newspaper of the Year. The River Valley Newspaper Group, of which the Westby Times is a member, had a spectacular year and Publisher Chris Hardie was pleased to see his employees receive acknowledgement for the quality products they produce every week.