By Gilda Morales
The Van Horn Advocate received numerous notable awards in the 2020-21 Texas Press Association’s Texas Better Newspaper Contest (TBNC) held on July 29, at the Texas Press Association Convention and Trade Show in San Marcos, Texas. The Advocate was represented by Dan Baeza, who was there to accept the awards.
The TBNC featured 18 categories with participating newspapers invited to submit entries from work published between September 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021. This year, 80 newspapers submitted 850 entries in the contest with publications competing against those of similar circulation. The Advocate competed as a weekly publication for Division 5 – 9 with 494 entries judged from 53 newspapers. Entries in each category were judged together as a sample representing the overall quality of a newspaper’s published work.
The Advocate submitted samples in 7 categories and received 5 certificates of merit as follows:
Second Place for Editorial Writing “Dear Mr. Bezos” by Gilda Morales and “Remembering 9/11” by Lisa Morton.
Second Place for Page Design by Dan Baeza for October 1, 2020, Front page; November 19, 2020, Lifestyle/Community page; December 17, 2020, Santa Letters page; and January 28, 2021, Sports page.
Second Place for Headline Writing with “Out with the old, in with the old” by Gilda Morales, “Vaccine supplies are a shot in the dark” by Becky Brewster and “Bumps and bonds” by Shanna Cummings.
Third Place for Advertising by Dan Baeza for the Broadway Cafe, Good Luck at State, and CCAISD Congrats creatives.
Third Place for News Writing by Shanna Cummings for Winter weather, January 7, 2021, and Historic manned launch, July 22, 2021.
The bittersweet feelings for Shanna Cummings’ posthumous recognition are not new ones at the Advocate. In 2017, the TBNC recognized our late Editor and my brother Robert C. Morales with a first-place plaque for Editorial Writing. Shanna took our newspaper to the next level, and we are proud of what she accomplished in her work. Creative Director Dan Baeza’s awards were well-deserved after joining the paper in 2018. Lisa Morton felt compelled to write her first Opinion/Editorial on the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2002, one of America’s greatest tragedies, and did an outstanding job.
The Advocate team could not put this newspaper together without the support of the community of Van Horn, and we share these awards with each and every one of you.
