The Pakenham-Berwick Gazette again cleaned up at the annual Victorian Country Press Association awards night, coming home from Friday night’s presentation in the city with five trophies.
The commemorative 100 Years of the Gazette special edition in June picked up the award for Best Advertising Feature, sports editor Dave Nagel won the Best Sport Story prize for his moving tribute to champion footballer Beau Miller, photographer Rob Carew won both the Best Photographic Study and Best Sports Photo categories and the advertising team won the award for Best House Advertisement.
Judge Greg Watson described the Gazette 100 year edition as “one of the best centenary souvenir editions I have seen.”
“A quality feature packed full of the colourful history of the Pakenham and Berwick communities and its four generation Thomas family newspaper – a fantastic publication, well researched, very well presented and riveting reading for all,” he said. “It touched on the news dramas, the personalities, and of course, football – and blended with the current issue of the paper with added commemorative theme. As a bonus it included a replica copy of the first issue of the paper of Friday, May 11 1917. Congratulations to all concerned.”
Judge Alan Pont was impressed that the winning house advertisement also touched on the centenary theme.
“This house advertisement promoting the Gazette caught the eye with the inclusion of a number of historical headlines while promoting its print and online versions at a one coin price,” he said. “With a number of media choices and platforms, this initiative to grow the newspapers audience in print and online makes this entry a worthy winner.”
Judge in the sports category, Patrick Elligett, said Nagel’s report was a beautifully presented, heartfelt sports feature – “ a fitting tribute to a man who was obviously a beloved member of the local community”.
“A tasteful, yet catchy, headline (Adieu Beau) tops a superbly designed package with photography and layout features that make the story irresistible,” he said. “The writer stepped outside the normal ‘inverted pyramid’ style of news-writing to deliver a piece for purpose that conveyed the feeling grief felt by many after the tragic death. The collection of tributes was a nice touch, providing an outlet for the community to express their sorrow.”
The photography judge was internationally renowned photographer and former Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons.
He was taken by both Carew shots – of a greyhound racing during the Gippsland carnival and of a motorcross rider flirting with the Ferris wheel at the Berwick Show.
“The greyhound’s eyes have been captured in what would have to have been at least at 2000th of a second and the focus of the dog in the spring off leading the race has led to an extraordinary picture,” he said. “Great photography, well done.
“It’s a great picture at the Berwick show, with people and the Ferris wheel in the background and the silhouette of the motocross jumper, a very opportunistic picture, captured on a 180 or 200mm lens.”
Carew was also commended of the agony and ecstasy photo he took at this year’s West Gippsland cricket grand final at the fall of the final wicket.
The Gazette was highly commended for its support of the Together We Can family violence campaign and commended in the category of Overall Newspaper Excellence.
