Observer wins 3 NPA awards

The Western Nebraska Observer earned three awards in the 2015 Nebraska Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. The press association announced the awards at its annual convention held over the weekend in Lincoln.

The Observer finished second for a Class B weekly newspaper in the prestigious general excellence category. The award looks at the overall quality of the newspaper, and considers news, content, quality of writing, headlines, page design, photos and captions, graphics and art elements, editorial page, front page, lifestyle pages, sports pages, reproduction, advertising design and content and treatment of public notices. The Nebraska Press Association considers the award “one of the top awards in the NPA Better Newspaper Contest” according to its contest guidelines.

The Observer also won first place in the reader interaction/contest category. The newspaper won that award for the “Guess the Santa contest” held in December.

Former editor Daniel Thompson also took second place in the sports action photo category. His photo of a man getting bucked off a bull in the Aug. 14, 2014, edition of the Observer was the photo that took second place.