Kuna Melba News wins three more national awards

The Kuna Melba News has won three awards from the 2010 National Newspaper Association’s annual Better Newspapers Contest:
• First place: Best Education/Literacy Story, Non-daily Division, circulation less than 6,000, “Is kindergarten schedule working?” (March 17, 2010).
Judge’s comments: “Clear explanation of complex data. Good use of subheadings. Clear sidebar shows good research and synthesis. Important to community.”
• Honorable mention: Best Local News Coverage, Non-daily Division, circulation less than 3,000.
Judge’s comment: “Surprising amount of well-written content.”
• Honorable mention: Freedom of Information, Daily & Non-daily Division, “Kuna public salaries” (Dec. 8, 15, 22, 2010)
Judge’s comments: “By providing an exhaustive list of public salaries, this paper has exactly the right reaction to finding out about the corruption in Bell, Calif. Coverage competes and wins among bigger papers. Informative analysis.”
What I'm most proud of is the Freedom of Information award because it was open to all newspapers in all size categories, meaning we were competing against much larger papers. Even though we are in the smallest circulation category, we still came in fourth place in the entire country out of all entries.
The Kuna Melba News is a locally owned and operated weekly newspaper based in Kuna. Started in 1982, the newspaper has been owned by Scott and Nicola McIntosh of Kuna since September 2006.
The Kuna Melba News has been recognized for excellence statewide and nationally with 10 awards from the Idaho Press Club and 12 awards from the National Newspaper Association.
There were 2,042 entries in the NNA Better Newspaper Contest and 397 entries in the Better Newspaper Advertising Contest for a total of 2,439 entries. A total of 631 awards were won by 143 member newspapers in 40 states. California had the most combined BNC/BNAC wins with 90, followed by New Mexico with 72 and Wyoming with 52.
Established in 1885, the National Newspaper Association is the voice of America’s community newspapers and the largest newspaper association in the country. The nation’s community papers inform, educate and entertain nearly 150 million readers every week.