Mineral Independent receives state-wide award

Melissa Oyer

Mineral Independent

The Mineral Independent won 13 awards at the Montana Newspaper Assocation banquet Saturday in Kalispell.

Areas for which Mineral County’s only local newspaper was honored included Best Outdoors Section, Best Outdoors Activity Photo and Best Sports Picture.

Second place awards were given for Best Special Section, Editorial Page, Spot News Picture and Small Space Advertising.

Third place honors were given for Best Front Page and Best Outdoors Reporting.

The Mineral Independent received two Honorable Mention nods for Best Single Ad with Spot Color and Best Sports Page.

The 124th MNA Convention and Awards were held at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Friday morning got off to an early start with an 8 a.m. tee time for the MNA Golf Scramble.

Families were welcomed to enjoy the sights and sounds on Flathead Lake during a cruise at 9 a.m.

The afternoon was spent in seminars discussing several aspects of the newspaper world including a segment called ‘Survival Guide for Online Newspapers’ lead by Marc Wilson, President of TownNews.com, which is the program the Mineral Independent uses to produce its’ Web site.

Saturday was spent celebrating those Best of the Best according to the Montana Newspapers Association.

Attendees were greeted by the sounds of Bill and Sharon Rossiter playing ‘Tall Tales and Tall Songs’, which was a mix of folk and bluegrass.

David Nash, immediate past President of the Montana Council of the Boy Scouts of America spoke about the upcoming 100-year anniversary of the organization and the surge of female membership in the organization.

After Nash’s address, the awards were presented.

The North Dakota Newspaper Association and its member papers judged the 2008 Montana Better Newspaper Contest.