Local community website contest winners
Here are the winners from the first annual Suburban Newspaper Association local community website contest. The judges said they were impressed with the progress being made by community newspaper websites.
Website of the year – affiliated with a daily newspaper – www.wickedlocal.com – produced by Enterprise
NewsMedia, Plymouth, MA, owned by GateHouse Media.
Judge’s comments: Wicked Local is more than just local news, which it executes and presents quite well.
Clearly, Wicked Local’s mission is to redefine the relationship between a media organization and the community it
serves. This isn’t “us talking to you,” which is the perspective of most newspapers online. It invites “you to talk to
us,” by encouraging community participation via blogs, forums, photo galleries, event postings and citizen
journalism. The result: a more engaged community and better service to larger audiences, which ultimately
engenders customer loyalty.
Website of the year – affiliated with weekly newspapers – www.mississauga.com – produced by The
Mississauga News, Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing, Mississauga, Ontario.
Judge’s comments: A decidedly local focus, with plenty to engage the community, we’ve seen much bigger
newspaper Web sites do quite a bit less with more resources. There are locally produced video Web casts, RSS
feeds, an easy-to-submit community calendar, local contests, blogs and links off to other local-oriented sites
produced by Mississauga News staff.
Website Innovator of the year – affiliated with daily newspapers – Bob Kempf, www.wickedlocal.com,
Enterprise NewsMedia, Plymouth, MA, owned by GateHouse Media.
Judge’s comments: Don’t recreate your newspaper online; create an online community in which your newspaper
plays an integral part. That’s Wicked Local’s apparent strategy – one we feel is well worth emulating. Done right, it
builds new audience, new business opportunities, and ultimately, new loyalties. That’s the path on which Wicked
Local has set and why Bob Kempf deserves recognition as innovator of the year.
Website Innovator of the year – affiliated with weekly newspapers – John Knowles, The Mississauga News,
Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing, Mississauga, Ontario. (www.mississauganewsauction.com)
Judge’s comments: All in all, the entries for 2006 Local Website Innovator reflected the encouraging theme of
opening up their online publications to new voices. The goal of these initiatives is to create new audiences and
sustainable business. This is where the rubber meets the road.
For this reason, we acknowledge Mississauga’s continuous-auction service as the Innovation of the Year and
Mississauga’s ad manager John Knowles as the Innovator of the Year. Working with auction- services vendor
CityXpress, Knowles spearheaded the creation of around-the-clock live auctions on the Mississauga newspaper
site. The result:
-- It changes the “event-driven” model of newspaper-hosted online auctions;
-- It proves that a local newspaper can effectively counter the influence of eBay, Amazon and other online
behemoths in the local marketplace;
-- It works to help transform online newspapers into vibrant, active, interactive and *local* marketplaces; and
-- It blazes a path that other publishers of any size can certainly follow.
Best Site Architecture and Overall Design – class A (sites produced by daily newspapers with a total
circulation over 40,000): www.wickedlocal.com – produced by Enterprise NewsMedia, Plymouth, MA, owned by
GateHouse Media.
Judge’s comments: This is a Web 2.0 site and the design reflects it. Not a newspaper site but a “local” site. A
very pleasing look, clean and laid out very well. Simple, easy to understand navigation. Every link is identified by
the same light blue color, a recognized convention. Layout is consistent from page-to-page and cookie crumbs
help the user know where they are. Ads are placed well, without competing with each other for recognition.
Best Site Architecture and Overall Design – class B (sites produced by daily newspapers with a total
circulation of 40,000 or less): www.record-eagle.com – produced by the Traverse City Record Eagle, Traverse
City, MI, Ottaway Newspapers.
Judge’s comments: The navigation was easy and understandable. It followed the rules of simplicity and was
constant from page-to-page. The search box was where I expected it to be and it was on every page in the same
place. The links were consistent and the colors were pleasing. Good architecture. A very nice site.
Best Site Architecture and Overall Design – class C (sites produced by a weekly newspaper or weekly
newspaper group with a total circulation over 100,000): www.mississauga.com (www.perfectcouple.ca)
- produced by The Mississauga News, Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing, Mississauga, Ontario.
Judge’s comments: Fun site with good vertical navigation.
Best Site Architecture and Overall Design – class D (sites produced by a weekly newspaper or weekly
newspaper group with a total circulation of 100,000 or under): www.western-star.com – produced by Cox Ohio
Publishing/Southwest Group Weekly, Lebanon, Ohio.
Judge’s comments: Site is clean and functional. Navigation and search the same on every page. Very easy to
use
Best Reader Interactivity – classes A & B combined – www.wickedlocal.com – produced by Enterprise
NewsMedia, Plymouth, MA, owned by GateHouse Media.
Judge’s comments: Of all the entries, Wicked Local is the best blend of news and community interactivity. The
site is engaging, with plenty to do and see, and many ways to participate. The citizen journalists – Wicked Local
Friends – are for the most part interesting if not entertaining. All in all, a great example of what a community can
do for a newspaper and what a newspaper can do for a community.
Best Reader Interactivity – class C – www.mississauga.com (www.perfectcouple.ca) - produced by The
Mississauga News, Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing, Mississauga, Ontario.
Judge’s comments: This contest invited engaged couples to tell their stories: how they met, how they proposed,
their wedding preparations and plans for their future lives together. While that limits contestants, the contest had
wide appeal to the romantic. Couples kept a daily diary that the public followed vicariously, and ultimately, the
public voted for their favorite couple. Besides keeping the audience engaged, it served as an attractive destination
for advertisers, especially those involved in the wedding industry
Best Reader Interactivity – class D – www.pulsejournal.com - produced by Cox Ohio Publishing/Pulse Journal,
Lebanon, Ohio.
Judge’s comments: A well-executed, simple, fun holiday singing contest in which contestants submitted videos
of themselves singing their favorite holiday tunes. The public decided the winner. It’s “American Idol” meets
“America’s Funniest Home Videos” and it proves again that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to engage an
audience.
Best Local Community Initiative – all classes combined – first place: www.mississauga.com
(www.babynamegame.ca) – produced by: by The Mississauga News, Metroland Printing, Publishing &
Distributing, Mississauga, Ontario.
Judge’s comments: Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the most elegant ones. The Baby Name Game invited
new parents to upload their children’s pictures and explain how they came about choosing their babies’ names.
The public voted on their favorite explanations and 12 winners were included in an online calendar. No prizes
were awarded other than calendar recognition. With more than 100 baby names submitted and more than 80,000
page views a month, it’s premium positioning for the right online advertisers. Smartly designed, the Baby Name
Game is an excellent way to engage parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, extended family and friends – did
we leave anybody out?
Best Local Community Initiative – all classes combined – second place: www.lehighvalleynewsgroup.com – produced by The Lehigh Valley News Group, Journal Register Company.
Judge’s comments: Many community newspapers now offer online galleries that feature staff photos for sale or
submissions from the community at-large. With so many places online for shutterbugs to upload images –
Yahoo’s massive Flicker and Kodak’s Easy Share Gallery, for instance – how does a community newspaper
distinguish itself? Lehigh Valley hosts a dynamic “Recent Photos” exhibit in the right rail of its Web site, which
changes as your community destination changes. It’s like “Top Ads,” except for community photos. Click a
thumbnail image to transport to the gallery, and before you know it, you’ve spent more time on the site than you
had intended. Some people would call that “stickiness.”
Best Multi-Media Initiative – class A – www.timesherald.com – produced by The Times Herald, Norristown, PA,
Journal Register Company.
Judge’s comments: Very good site with “Behind the Headlines” video and the Poll – Web Talk
Best Multi-Media Initiative – class B – www.kokomotribune.com/multimedia - produced by Kokomo Tribune,
Kokomo, IN, Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.
Judge’s comments: Nice slide shows and the videos were very effective
Best Multi-Media Initiative – class B – second place (tie)–
www.seacoastonline.com/news/multimedia/multimedia.htm - produced by Seacoast Media Group, Portsmouth,
NH, Ottaway Newspapers.
Judge’s comments: The multimedia page has a nice presentation of video/slide shows, audio features and
reader photos. In addition, the band clips and podcast add interesting interactive components
Best Multi-Media Initiative – class B – second place (tie) – www.ncnewsmedia.com/archive/crunch/index.htm –
produced by the New Castle News, New Castle, PA, Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.
Judge’s comments: Web site devoted to local HS football with photo galleries and video highlights was very
interesting and imaginative. The cell phone score updates is a great idea.
Best Multi-Media Initiative – class C – www.durhamregion.com – produced by Oshawa This Week, Metroland
Printing, Publishing & Distributing, Oshawa, Ontario.
Judge’s comments: The daily newscast, Daytripper and all the other video series such as “Faces of the Future”
made for lots of video engagement at the site
Best Multi-Media Initiative – class D – www.pulsejournal.com/media/content/multimedia/videos/index.html -
produced by Cox Ohio Publishing/Southwest Group Weekly, Lebanon, Ohio.
Judge’s comments: Great stuff – news, sports and features. The send us your own photos and RSS feeds were
very good. The video valentine contest, the Ohio 2006 Highway Projects, the Pet Look Alike Contest were all fun
and engaging. This site is ahead of most newspaper Web sites of any type or size in engaging and imaginative
video content.
Best Overall Local News Site – class A - www.wickedlocal.com – produced by Enterprise
NewsMedia, Plymouth, MA, owned by GateHouse Media
Judge’s comments: Drawing from the Patriot Ledger, The Enterprise and almost two dozen other community
newspapers, Wicked Local covers the Boston area in what its editors like to call “hyper-local” fashion. The content
is fresh, well-written and packaged interestingly. Reporters’ blogs augment coverage of local issues, and
residents contribute original content.
Best Overall Local News Site – class B - www.record-eagle.com – produced by the Traverse City Record
Eagle, Traverse City, MI, Ottaway Newspapers.
Judge’s comments: Its pages focused on local news, the Record-Eagle is one of the most attractive Web sites
we judged. Stories are well written and the Web photos chosen, while sparse, either enhance stories or convey
stories themselves.
Best Overall Local News Site – class B – second place – www.metrowestdailynews.com – produced
by MetroWest Daily News, Community Newspaper Company, Needham, MA, owned by GateHouse Media.
Judge’s comments: Heavy local news focus, MetroWest competes with what it knows best – the cities it covers.
The design is clean and the site is easy to navigate.
Best Overall Local News Site – classes C &D combined - www.mississauga.com - produced by The
Mississauga News, Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing, Mississauga, Ontario.
Judge’s comments: Mississauga News consistently shows what creative editors can do with limited resources:
breaking news coverage, blogs, locally produced video and multimedia features that enhance local coverage. In
revamping its site in 2005, the News revamped the way it gathered news: Instead of reporting and publishing
print-to-Web, it publishes Web-to-print. The change in focus resulted in quicker updates (16 hours a day, seven
days a week) and coverage that often scoops much larger competitors – all with a staff of only 14.
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