The Auburn Citizen took best small weekly. General Excellence prizes recognize newspapers in four circulation divisions for work published on two randomly selected dates. Large dailies vie only for General Excellence citations. Honors came at the SIEA's spring meeting at Giant City State Park Lodge near Makanda. It took firsts in local news, makeup and graphics, and sports.
Newspapers also compete in five open categories.
A series of four tabloid publications chock-full of authentic historical lists whose entries were as well written as they were informational, the judges wrote. It was the lead photo on a page devoted to coverage of Illinois Gov. George Ryan's 1999 trip to Cuba.