The Laker/Lutz News received four awards in the Florida Press Association’s 2020 Weekly Newspaper Contest, announced in a virtual awards ceremony on July 31.
Christine Holtzman won second place for photo series in one issue. The judges wrote: ‘The exuberance of an 86-year-old woman before and after her first-ever skydiving experience jumps off the page at readers in this photo package. We get to see her joking with friends before the jump. We get to see her falling from the sky with her purple and pink (tandem) parachute. We get to see her walking across the field with raised arms linked to fellow jumpers. If you were having a bad day when you saw all of that, it most certainly would have raised your spirits.’
Holtzman also won second place for sports photo and third place for a story entry in the Outdoor and Recreation category.
The Laker/Lutz News competed in the contest’s largest circulation category (13,000 and above). This year’s competition received more than 1,400 entries — the most in five years. Twenty judges from across the nation picked the winners.
Matt Mistretta, the newspaper’s art director, received third place in the best headline category for his headline, “Clear the shelters, a howling success.”
The judges wrote: “Any animal lover will appreciate the headline and what it tells the reader.”
