The Powell Tribune has been recognized by the Wyoming Press Association as 2020’s best large weekly newspaper in the state.

The announcement was made Saturday evening as part of the WPA annual convention, held virtually this year to help curtail the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Large weeklies are those with circulations of more than 2,500.

The Hanway Plaque for large weeklies is awarded for overall general excellence, with points being given for news writing, feature writing, editorials, sports writing, family life coverage, general use of photos, advertising and typography, which deals with appearance, headlines and photo reproduction.

“The terrific efforts made last year by this staff to deliver high quality news, photography and advertising to our reader audience ... in a well-designed and printed package is definitely worth celebrating,”  said Toby Bonner, ad director, co-owner and general manager of the Tribune. “Win or lose, I’m always super proud of the product our team delivers twice weekly.”

The Powell Tribune’s own Mark Davis was named as the Veteran Journalist of the Year (see sidebar), reserved for those journalists 35 years old and better. Between that honor and the award for general excellence, it “was truly deserved recognition of a banner year for the Tribune,” Bonner said.

Additionally, 10 different members of the Tribune’s staff were recognized with other individual awards, known as Pacemakers.

“That number of winners from one staff is impressive at a major daily newspaper, let alone a weekly publication our size,” Bonner added.

The Casper Star-Tribune took top honors in general excellence in the daily newspaper category, while the Platte County Record-Times was selected as the best in general excellence among small weekly newspapers.

“We see it again and again — Wyoming newspapers are regularly selected as the best in the country in national competitions,” said Rory Palm, publisher of Cheyenne’s Wyoming Tribune Eagle, who was elected the WPA’s president during the convention. “So selecting top papers from among those winners is always a challenge for our judges.”

The 122nd annual competition was judged by members of the Montana Newspaper Association.

Around the region, the Greybull Standard placed second for general excellence and first for photographic excellence, where it was followed by the Lovell Chronicle.

Brad Boner, a photographer for the Jackson Hole News & Guide, was named the WPA Photographer of the Year and a photo taken by the Lovell Chronicle’s Annette Moss was selected as the WPA Photo of the Year.

The WPA is a trade association representing Wyoming’s newspapers in areas including lobbying, public relations and advertising.