Salisbury Independent wins top news awards; State News has 11 honors in press contest

DOVER — Some notes and quotes between headlines and deadlines ...

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A lasting joy of newspapers is the serendipity of scanning a page and seeing a clever headline.

We love the witty ones. We groan when they fail.

Those few words can be difficult to write, especially on deadline.

As Dover Downs was about to build its hotel years ago, the late Gene Bryson came up with Vroom with view. Copy editor Allan Ryder recently had a great kicker – Changing tune – above the story about the Delaware State Fair’s concert schedule.

On those occasions, we smile.

But there are times, in production haste, we frown.

The passing of former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont last weekend reminded me of a Delaware State News gaffe that was so bad that it merited an official proclamation.

The headline appeared on March 3, 1977.

The story was about Gov. du Pont’s address as the state faced a $121 budget deficit.

At the time, the Delaware State News had a Maryland edition and pages were adjusted to best fit the market. The governor’s address was plugged in where Maryland readers got a report on the Chesapeake Bay.

His executive order:

WHEREAS, the Delaware State News reports on state government, the governor, and the legislature with great ferocity and foresight; WHEREAS, their accounts are both accurate and, occasionally alarming;

WHEREAS, their headlines often reflect the urgency and seriousness of the matter;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Pierre S. du Pont IV, Governor of Delaware, do hereby declare, and award the First Annual Headline Award for Journalistic Summation to the Delaware State News for entitling, on Page 1 of the March 3, edition, an article reviewing the Governor’s Budget Message:

COLD MAY HAVE KILLED BAY HARVEST

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As noted in the news account last weekend, Gov. du Pont inherited a financial mess when he was elected in 1976.

His legacy, as governor, centers on his focus on fiscal responsibility.

It makes a difference now, looking back on the headline, to know that he had a sense of humor about this at a time when politics were not always kind to him. In the spring of 1977, he vetoed the spending budget the General Assembly sent him — only to have it overridden by the legislators.

Over the years, Gov. du Pont continued to share his conservative values and ideas with the Delaware State News in guest commentaries. Many were written during his time as chairman of the National Center of Policy Analysis.

He also regularly wrote “Outside the Box,” a column for the Wall Street Journal.

“Every morning, I read a half-dozen papers and I read things that arouse my passions and need to be addressed,” Gov. du Pont said in a 2005 article. “So, I address them.”

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Speaking of awards, we have some real ones to share this week, too.

The Salisbury Independent won eight awards -- including first-place honors for Public Service and Investigative Reporting -- in the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association 2020 Editorial Contest.

The Delaware State News won 11 awards and the Crisfield-Somerset County Times won two.

The contest, governed by MDDC’s Editorial Committee, admitted more than 1,000 entries from 48 member publications in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. There are seven divisions in the contest, which align member publications into daily and non-daily print and online-only categories, then further group them by circulation.

The entries were judged by news media professionals at the Virginia Press Association.

This was the fourth time in five years of eligibility that Salisbury Independent was recognized for Public Service.

Additionally, Salisbury Independent won first-place awards in the categories of General News Story, Feature Story/Non-Profile, General News Photo and Feature Photo Series.

The newspaper won second-place awards in the categories of Continuing Coverage and News Special Sections.

“All of us associated with the Salisbury Independent are truly honored by these awards,” Publisher Darel La Prade said. “I couldn’t be prouder of Greg and his team. Every week, they strive to provide Salisbury with an outstanding newspaper – one that the community can call its own – and these awards are tangible proof of the high quality of their work. The fact that Independent seems to own the award for Public Service is evidence, at least to me, that this newspaper matters and that it makes a difference to the city it so faithfully serves.”

The Public Service Award was given for coverage of the water main extension to Salisbury-Wicomico Regional Airport, an issue that had confounded the community for several months and about which a plethora of erroneous information was being exchanged.

In its coverage, Salisbury Independent engaged in purely factual reporting, which helped to ease public concerns and allow the project to proceed.

The newspaper’s coverage of a probe into conduct within the Salisbury Police Department’s Evidence -- which triggered a separate investigation of two city police officers and a member of the Wicomico State’s Attorney’s Office -- won first place for Investigative reporting.

The newspaper obtained detailed letters that outlined the internal probes and used court records to connect law enforcement officials’ actions to the actual cases in question.

Brice Stump won first place in the General New Story category for his telling of the 1918 Spanish Flu on Delmarva. Stump relied on a historian’s discovery of diary entries that made clear the early-20th century pandemic was in many ways similar to the current Coronavirus pandemic.

A member of the MDDC Hall of Fame for his previous work with The Daily Times, Stump also won first place for a feature story about the discovery and ultimate resetting of several of the Mason-Dixon Transpeninsular Stones along the Maryland-Delaware state line.

Photographer Tony Weeg won a first-place award in the General News Photo category for his early-morning sunrise image of the newly renovated West Main Street in Salisbury.

Photographer/writer Carrie Samis won first place in the Feature Photo Series category for her photo package on oyster waterman Stoney Whitelock of Deal Island.

The newspaper’s annual Progress Edition, “Salisbury Rising,” captured a second-place award in the News-Driven Special Section. Editor Greg Bassett won a second-place honor in Continuing Coverage for his series of stories on the Wicomico County Council’s selection of a replacement for late County Executive Bob Culver.

Salisbury Independent marked seven years of publication last week. It has now published 366 weekly editions since May 2014.  

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For the Delaware State News, features editor Craig Horleman won first place for medical/science reporting with “Dreaming of a restless COVID-19 slumber?” The story addressed the odd, fear-induced dreams that Delawareans were having during the pandemic. One example: A child dreamed that her teeth were falling out and it was a symptom that she had the coronavirus.

A contest judge’s praise: “Fascinating story about pandemic dreaming. Vivid examples. Solid reporting regarding what researchers believe about slumber-time dreams related to COVID.”

Executive Editor Andrew West received a second-place award in the feature or humor column division for a piece on Mort Walker’s comic legacy. It was headlined, “At 70, Beetle Bailey is still marching, napping.”

We are proud to also share honors received by our design, advertising, and marketing folks:

• Lee Hoover won first place for news page design with a year in review spread in The Airlifter, a weekly we publish in collaboration with Dover Air Force Base.
• Heather Cregar and Angi Hicks won first place in self-promotion advertising for our 19th Amendment Celebration section.
• Designer Angi Hicks won first place in the restaurant/entertainment ad category (Benvenuto).
• Designer DJ Short won for first place in retail ad category (Meding’s Seafood).
• Designer Thomas Maglio won first place in the business ad category (Torbert Funeral Home), and second place in the community service program category (Open for Business).
• The Delaware State News staff won second place for Stars of Delaware in the best event category.
• The newspaper won first place in the advertising-driven special publication category for “Live, Love, Laugh.”
• The newspaper took second place for “Thrive” in the news-driven special section category. It was intended to support an event for senior life after age 55. “The backstory about how this pub was a response to a COVID-canceled event earned it points, but so did the good variety of content and some nice design and writing elements,” wrote a judge.

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For the Crisfield-Somerset County Times,   graphic artist Angi Hicks won design awards for restaurant (Billie's Catering) and non-retail business (Coastal Comfort).

Andrew West is executive editor of the Delaware State News.