First-place winners of the Southern Newspapers
Publishers Association Print Quality contest included the Palm Beach (Fla.)
Daily News, the Jackson (Tenn.) Sun, the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press
and the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.
These newspapers and other contest winners were
recognized at the Newspaper Operations Conference in Research Triangle Park,
N.C., on March 10. More than 70 newspapers entered the 2003 contest.
The Print Quality contest provides feedback on
the print quality of newspapers. Judges make comments on black ink laydown,
color ink laydown, color registration, halftone quality, page alignment and
overall print appearance.
Three independent judges evaluate each newspaper
entry and scores are averaged.
Participants in the 2003 contest saved five
copies of their newspaper from the week of Dec. 6-12, 2002. On Dec. 16, SNPA
notified participants to send judges Dec. 9 editions of their papers. All
newspapers receive their marked newspapers back with a detailed evaluation of
their entry.
The judges included Mickey Bella, Salisbury
(N.C.) Post; John Bratt, West Virginia University Tech; Anthony Gale, the
Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.; John Jenkins, the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer;
Richard Knowles, The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, Tenn.; A.J. Rosenbohm,
The Times-Picayune, New Orleans; Bruce Toy, the News & Observer, Raleigh,
N.C.; James “Bo” Webb, West Virginia University Tech and Rhyda Yancey, the
Huntsville (Ala.) Times.
2003 SNPA Print Quality Winners
Under 25,000 circulation
1st place — Palm Beach (Fla.) Daily News
2nd place — Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune
3rd place — Texas City (Texas) Sun
25,000-75,000 circulation
1st place — The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun
2nd place — Galveston County (Texas) Daily News
3rd place — Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun
Over 75,000 circulation
40 pages or less printed
1st place — Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free
Press
2nd place — Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald
3rd place — Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville
41 pages or more printed
1st place — The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
Tenn.
2nd place — Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(Fulton County Printing Plant)
3rd place — The Times-Picayune, New Orleans.