Alcester Union & Hudsonite Online

Alcester Union & Hudsonite publisher Paul Buum displays the three First Place award plaques the newspaper won during the Better Newspapers Contest at the South Dakota Newspaper Association Convention in Aberdeen last weekend.

ABERDEEN - The Alcester Union & Hudsonite brought home five awards from the Better Newspapers Contest during the 126th annual South Dakota Newspaper Association convention held in Aberdeen on April 4-5. The newspaper won three First Place plaques and two Second Place awards in the Under 1,150 circulation division.

The newspaper won First Place awards for Best Classified Section, Best Weekly Newspaper Web Site, and Best News Series. Second place awards were for Best News Story and Typography & Design.

The Alcester Union & Hudsonite was named Best Newspaper Web Site of all weekly newspapers in the state. Second place went to the Freeman Courier and third place went to the Lennox Independent.

The newspaper received the Best Classified Section award with the Groton Dakota Press taking second place and the Onida Watchman taking third place.

Alcester Union & Hudsonite publisher Paul Buum won the Best News Series award for a series of stories on the David Lykken murder case. Judges’ comments said, “The reporting on such a serious subject was handled well, and the background was thorough.”

The second place award went to Erik Kaufman of the Hutchinson Herald and third place went to Bev Pechan of the Hill City Prevailer News.

The newspaper won a Second Place award for Typography & Design. First place went to the Parkston Advance, and third place went to The New Era in Parker.

Buum tied for a Second Place award for Best News Story with his story about the Hudson School Fire last spring. Judges’ comments said, “Great narrative and description of how the loss of a historic building impacts the community.”

Elizabeth “Sam” Grosz of The Parkston Advance won the category, with Jamie Gibson of The New Era tying for second place. Kaufman of the Hutchinson Herald took third place.

The top two awards in the contest – General Excellence and the Sweepstakes Award – were both won by The New Era in the Under 1,150 circulation division.

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