Record/Ledger editorial staff win 14 awards in annual NINA contest

The Record Newspapers and Oswego Ledger captured 14 awards in the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association's 2018 newspaper contest.

Awards were presented during NINA's annual awards banquet held on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb Oct. 18. More than 20 newspapers and publishing groups submitted approximately 400 entries to this year's contest.

The Record/Ledger editorial staff won five first place awards.

In the contest's best in-depth news story category, News Editor Tony Scott and Erika Wurst, a freelancer, won top honors for an article they wrote on the pending closure of the Oswego Township Caterpillar plant and its impact on the company's local employees and their families. Sports Editor Josh Welge won first place honors for a story on a 9 year-old Montgomery youth seeking to run half marathons in all 50 states, and Reporter/Photographer Shea Lazansky won a first place award for best online photo gallery for her photo coverage of the 2017 Montgomery Fest community celebration.

Also earning first place awards were long-time Record/Ledger Columnist Roger Matile for best columnist for his Reflections column and Steven Buyansky, a freelancer, for best sports photo.

Record/Ledger Editor John Etheredge won a second place award for best editorial, while other second place awards went to Welge for an article on Oswego native Michael Joseph's journey to become an NFL prospect; and to Lazansky for best education reporting for her coverage of the Oswego School District 308 Board of Education. Lazansky also won second place awards in the contest's best spot news story category for her coverage of a student walkout at Oswego High School earlier this year and for best feature photo for a photo she took at last fall's Day of the Dead Hispanic cultural festival at Yorkville Middle School.

Third place awards went to: Scott for best general feature story for an article on the struggles that local veterans have faced returning from war; Matile for best historical feature story for an article on how Kendall County was impacted by the 1918 Flu Pandemic; and Lazansky for spot news photo and for best online photo gallery for her photo coverage of the OHS student walkout.

NINA has been serving the journalists and educators in Northern Illinois in conjunction with the Communication Department of Northern Illinois University for 56 years.