Staff Photo Graham Thomas
The Free Weekly received two first place awards at the Arkansas Press Association Better Newspaper Editorial Contest.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — The Free Weekly earned two first-place awards for large weeklies during the Arkansas Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
The awards were announced Saturday at the Arkansas Press Association Super Convention held at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in North Little Rock.
The awards were earned for newspapers published during calendar year 2014.
The Arkansas contest entries — which included 1,044 entries from 33 weeklies and 830 from 20 dailies — were judged by journalists from the Colorado Press Association.
The Free Weekly entered into three categories, Best Feature Story, Best Special Issue/Section and Best News Feature. Out of those three, two first place awards were given for Best Feature Story and Best Special Issue/Section.
The Free Weekly is proud to be a free, alternative and now award-winning newspaper for its community.
“It’s an honor for The Free Weekly be recognized and to be evaluated by its peers,” said managing editor Nick Brothers. “While winning awards is great, providing alternative and thought-provoking content for our readership each week is our primary goal. Without such a rich local community in Northwest Arkansas to write about, The Free Weekly wouldn’t be the same.”
First place
• Feature Story — Nick Brothers, for the posthumous profile of Jacob George, a beloved local advocate for peace: “The Weight of a Soldier’s Heart.”
• Best Special Issue/Section — Nick Brothers and Richard Davis (and Stephen Ironside of Ironside Photography for his excellent contributed photography), for the design and content of the Wakarusa Music Festival coverage in June 2014.
