Daily Inter Lake honored for journalism, advertising
The Daily Inter Lake amassed 24 awards for journalism and advertising in Montana Newspaper Association’s 2022 Better Newspaper Contest.
The awards were presented Saturday in Helena during the newspaper association’s annual convention. The Daily Inter Lake competes in Division 5 against the state’s daily newspapers and large online outlets. This year’s contest was judged by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.
Longtime Inter Lake reporter Hilary Matheson placed first in the lifestyle writing category for her story about the McIntyre farm in West Valley and the Western Montana Stockmen’s Association Heifer Scholarship Program.
“No fair, you’re melting me with cute animals,” the judge commented. “Great layout and nicely written.”
Inter Lake page production whiz Heidi Gaiser swept the feature page layout category, taking first place for her Montana Life design for “Fungus farmers.” Reporter Taylor Inman and photographer Casey Kreider contributed to the winning page.
Gaiser also received acknowledgement for her wordsmithing, taking second place in headline writing.
In the competitive news writing category, Inter Lake reporter Adrian Knowler placed second for his in-depth piece on residents who were displaced by the FairBridge Inn closure.
“Nice work capturing the struggles of residents at the hotel as well as the nuances of an issue (homelessness) with no one-size-fits-all solution,” the judge commented.
In the sports category, Inter Lake sports editor Katie Brown placed second for page layout. Veteran sports reporter Fritz Neighbor earned second place for column writing for a piece on Jim Smithwick-Hann’s passing.
“Good human interest story,” the judge wrote. “It provided optimism and a good outlook despite Smithwick-Hann's passing.”
For photojournalism, Casey Kreider placed third in the feature photo category, while Jeremy Weber took second place in sports photography.
The Inter Lake editorial board was honored for its critique on a proposed cryptocurrency mine in Polson that could tap into power produced by the SKQ Dam.
"Job creator," "development," "growth," whizzbang proposals rarely draw the scrutiny they deserve,” the judge wrote. “Grift abounds. Politicians are often collaborators. Good work Daily Inter Lake.”
On the advertising and marketing front, the Inter Lake advertising team cleaned up for its print and online display ads with three first-place awards, four second-place and three third place.
On the award for best color display ad, the judge commented that the design “jumped off the page.”
The Inter Lake team was also honored for its website, Veterans Day special section and the NW Montana Outdoors magazine.
The Daily Inter Lake awards haul in Division 5 was surpassed only by the Billings Gazette, which claimed top honors with The Sam Gilluly Award.
Hagadone Montana’s weekly newspapers were honored as well, with the Hungry Horse News earning 10 awards and the Whitefish Pilot earning 14 awards.
The Thomas Dimsdale Award for the Best Montana Weekly Newspaper went to the Belgrade News.
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