The Lincoln County News walked away with several awards from the Oklahoma PressAssociation’s 2025 Better Newspaper Contest on June 6.
The newspaper competed in Division 6 for weeklies that service areas with a population of 1,800 to 4,000. It placed in six out of eight Sequoyah categories, taking home first in Editorial Writing. It won second place in News Content and Community Leadership and third in Layout & Design, Advertising and Sports Coverage.
Overall, it came in second for the Sequoyah with 420 points.The Sequoyah Award, which is the highest honor in the Better Newspaper Contest, is determined bythenumber of accumulated points in the following categories: News Content, Layout & Design, EditorialWriting, Photography, Sports Coverage, Sales Promotion and Community Leadership.
“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve done as a newspaper in the past year,” said Editor Emily Kalka. “I’m not sure how much credit I can take -- a lot of that was led by our former editor Brian -- but I think it speaks to our dedication to put out the best paper we can every weekforourcommunity.”
In individual awards, TheLincolnCountyNews swept the Sports Photograph category, with sports editor Brian Blansett winning first and second and photographer Rick Hester taking third. Blansett also won first in Feature Photograph and Photo Essay, and third place in Front Page Design.
EditorEmilyKalkawon five individual awards, taking first in News Story for her article on how schools adjusted to the new Bell-to-Bell phone policy and Feature Story for her front page article on burn survivor Will Conley.
She received second and third place in Sports Story for her stories on LandonEarp’s 100varsity wins and the McLoud girls’ wrestling team, respectively, and second place in Business Story for a piece on An Oklahoma Chesnut farm.
Graphic Designer Natalie Bridges also received second place for Large Space Ad.