FARGO, N.D. – Two Forum Communications Co. newspapers received top awards in the 2012 Great Plains AP News and Photo Contest for small dailies, according to a report released Tuesday.
The contest was open to 40 AP-member newspapers in three size categories covering the states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
The Daily Republic, of Mitchell, S.D., received six first-place awards to lead all other papers in the contest’s medium-sized newspapers division.
The paper received the following awards:
First Place
- Headlines: Tom Lawrence, “Baaaaad Boys”.
- Spot Sports: Luke Hagen, “Pole resigns from Dakota Wesleyan”.
- Sports Column: Korrie Wenzel, “DWU vs. LSU?”.
- Personal Column: Seth Tupper, “Three yards and a cloud of dust”.
- Photo Feature: Chris Huber, “Davison County 4-H Achievement”.
- Photo General News: Chris Huber, “Stampede”.

Second Place
- Editorial: Korrie Wenzel, “Board should have asked questions”.
- Sports Column: Luke Hagen, “No room for booing”.

Third Place
- Website: Denise Ross.
- Enterprise: Anna Jauhola, “Medical disciplinary”.
- Feature: Anna Jauhola, “Missing Fingers”.
- Photo General News: Chris Huber, “Chamberlain says tearful goodbye”.
- Photo Sports Action: Chris Huber, “Blustery first day at soccer tournament”.
- Personal Columns: Tom Lawrence, “Flipping the (index) finger…”.
- Sports Column: Luke Hagen, “Morgan’s the right guy to lead Mitchell…”.
- Sports Feature: Luke Hagen, “Kokesh gunning for national title”.

John Steiner

The Jamestown (N.D.) Sun received two first-place, and 10 overall awards, in the medium-sized division.
The paper received the following awards:
First Place
- Photo Sports Action: John Steiner, “Upset special”.
- Photo Spot News: John Steiner, “Vehicle-bicycle accident”.

Second Place
- Photo Feature: John Steiner, “Teachers racing”.
- Photo General News: John Steiner, “Tornado Damage”.
- Photo Sports Action: John Steiner, “Last Stand”.
- Photo Spot News: John Steiner, “Standoff ends peacefully”.

Kari Lucin

Third Place
- General News: Kari Lucin, “19 dachshunds getting care”.
- Editorial: Staff, “Give early retirees a consistent plan”.
- Photo Feature: John Steiner, “Girl with rabbit county fair”.
- Photo Spot News: John Steiner, “Corn spill”.