From staff reports

For the third year in a row, The Orange Leader has placed in categories for our division in the Texas Better Newspaper Contest. Winners were announced on Saturday at the Texas Press Leadership Retreat held this year at the Inn of the Mountain Gods in New Mexico.

This year, The Orange Leader placed in five categories:

Second Place Editorial
Second Place News Photo
Fourth Place Feature Writing
Fourth Place Page Design
Fourth Place Sports Photo

This year, 143 newspapers submitted 1,410 entries in the contest.

Sweepstakes winners are Victoria Advocate, Division 2; Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, Division 3; Hood County News, Grandbury, Division 4; Kilgore News Herald, Division 5; Rockdale Reporter, Division 6; Azle News, Division 7; The Canadian Record, Division 8; Westlake Picayune, Division 9; and Big Lake Wildcat, Division 10.
The Frank Mayborn Award for Community Service was presented to Jim Moser of Moser Community Media. The award was presented by Moser’s father, Charles Moser, who is a past recipient of the award. TPA President Randy Keck noted that they are the only father and son recipients in the history of the award.
The Fred Hartman Award for Excellence in Sports Writing was presented to Mike Forman of the Victoria Advocate.
The 2017 Texas Better Newspaper Contest was judged by members of the Louisiana Press Association as part of the annual BNC “swap.” In 2018,the contest will be judged by members of the Nebraska Press Association.