Quay County Sun picks up six awards at PPA convention

CHILDRESS, Texas - The Quay County Sun earned six awards last weekend at the 108th Annual Panhandle Press Association awards.

Senior reporter Thomas Garcia led the way with four awards in Division I (weekly newspapers).

Garcia won first place for news writing, second-place honors for sports writing and news photography and took home a third for feature writing.

Additionally, Malinda Montgomery won first place for front page layout and webmaster Shawn Luscombe and the staff collected a second place in the best website/online newspaper category.

The contest was for entries published in 2017, and most of the required three stories, photos or pages to be submitted for judging.

“Thomas Garcia had a great showing this year in the contest,” said publisher Rob Langrell. “Thomas' work shined this year in the eyes of the judges. It's so nice to see his hard work rewarded.

“He has always been the person behind getting the news out to the residents of Tucumcari and all of Quay County,” Langrell said. “I'm so proud to be part of a great team of journalists.”

The Eastern New Mexico News — the daily newspaper based in Clovis that is also owned by Clovis Media Inc. - was awarded the top newspaper prize in its division. It was the third consecutive year The News won that honor.

The News collected the General Excellence award, which honors one publication in each class based on its writing, photography, layout, advertising and special sections. The News competes in Division 2, a category that includes members that are daily or semi-weekly newspapers. In Division 1, the Clarendon (Texas) Enterprise won the top honor.

Overall, The News collected 12 first-place plaques, two seconds and two thirds.

The News won awards in the following categories:

• First place, Front Page Layout: Jenna Zamie

• First place, Society/Lifestyle section: Malinda Montgomery

• First place, Special Section: Staff for its tornado anniversary publication

• First place, Headline Writing: Jenna Zamie and Peter Stein

• First place, Editorial Writing: David Stevens

• First place, Humorous Column: Kevin Wilson

• First place, Serious Column: David Stevens

• First place, News Writing: David Stevens

• First place, Sports Writing: Kevin Wilson, Eric Murray and Peter Stein

• First place, News Photography: Tony Bullocks

• First place, Sports Photography: Tony Bullocks and Kevin Wilson

• First place, Human Interest Photography: Tony Bullocks

• Second place, Serious Column: Kevin Wilson

• Second place, Humorous Column: Rob Langrell

• Third place, Advertising Design: Ethan Lewis

• Third place, Best Website/Online newspaper: Shawn Luscombe and staff