IM wins General Excellence top prizes in WVPA contest

ELKINS -- The Inter-Mountain brought home General Excellence top prizes in its division for advertising and editorial from the 2023 West Virginia Press Association Convention, held last weekend in Charleston.

The twin General Excellence awards signify that The Inter-Mountain came in first place in Division 2 for the state in both the editorial and advertising Press Association contests. The work judged was from the 2022 calendar year.

"The staff at The Inter-Mountain remains committed to providing the best possible marketing plans for our advertisers and the best possible news coverage to the readers in our region of the state," IM Publisher Steve Herron said.

"Both the Advertising Department and the Editorial Department were recognized as the number one daily newspaper in Division II in West Virginia, as both were presented with the General Excellence Award along with many first-, second- and third-place plaques. This was truly a join effort from all of the staff's work in 2022, and these awards do not come easily. 

"I hope our various communities are as proud of this recognition as we are since it is our community that we have been writing about and the businesses in our region that we are helping to grow," Herron said. 

In the advertising contest, The Inter-Mountain won 10 first-place awards, nine second-place awards and 11 third-place awards, totaling 59 points in the contest.

In the editorial contest, The Inter-Mountain won 11 first-place awards, eight second-place awards and nine third-place awards, totaling 58 contest points.

IM Advertising Director Michelle Smith won three first-place awards, while Commercial Print Director Joyce Becker won two, and IM account executives Sue Blankenship and Lori Smith took home two and one, respectively.

Michelle Smith won for Best Ad Campaign --Smaller than Half Page, Best Newspaper Promotional Campaign and Best Online Newspaper Promotional Campaign.

Becker won for Best House Ad and Best Promotion of Public Notice.

Blankenship won for Best Agency Advertisement and Best Newspaper Promotional Campaign.

Lori Smith won for Best Online Political Ad.

The IM Advertising Staff took home two first-place awards, for Best Ad Campaign -- Half Page or Larger, and Best Theme Page.

On the editorial side, Staff Writer Edgar Kelley won three first-place awards, with Sports Editor Joey Kittle and Content Editor Anthony Gaynor each winning two, and Executive Editor Brad Johnson and Publisher Steve Herron winning one each.

Kelley won first-places for News Photography and Reporting Generated from a Public Notice, and he shared the first-place award for Photo Essay with Gaynor.

Gaynor also shared a first-place award for Best Lifestyle Pages with IM Lifestyles Columnist Shannon Bennett Campbell, who also earned a first-place award for Best Lifestyle Columnist.

Gaynor and Campbell swept the Best Lifestyle Pages category, winning first-, second- and third-place between them.

Kittle won first-place honors for Best Sports Pages and Best Sports News and Feature Reporting.

Johnson received a first-place award for Best Editorial Pages.

Herron won a first-place award for Best Illustration, Cartoon or Graphic.

The IM Editorial Staff brought home two first-place awards, for Best Front Page and Best Single Issue.