Community & Business
29 October, 2024
Western papers among winners at Country Press NSW Awards
The 2024 Country Press NSW Annual Conference and Awards Dinner has been a resounding success, with 106 members, sponsors, and guests attending the regional event in Dubbo from Thursday, October 17 to Friday, October 18.
The 2024 Country Press NSW Annual Conference and Awards Dinner has been a resounding success, with 106 members, sponsors, and guests attending the regional event in Dubbo from Thursday, October 17 to Friday, October 18.
Several newspapers walked away from the event with prestigious awards to show for their efforts over the past year, including The Gilgandra Weekly.
President Lucie Peart, of Gilgandra Newspapers, was re-elected unanimously at the annual general meeting to lead the organisation for an eighth term. She received a special award from the membership for her outstanding work over many years to rebuild Country Press NSW Inc.
Also at the annual general meeting, Edward Higgins, Mid-West Media, was elected vice-president. Recently retired Narrabri publishers, Wanda and Ian Dunnet (The Courier), were also awarded the Conscientious Service to Country Newspapers.
The awards dinner was held at Dubbo RSL Club. Guests were asked to dress in their best ‘Dub-Vegas’ attire, including colourful feather boas and sparkling sequin dresses. At the awards dinner, the major guest of honour, minister for agriculture, regional NSW, and western NSW, the Hon Tara Moriarty MLC, delivered an address on the NSW government’s commitment to the regional newspaper industry, to be delivered through a $3 million second package of the Regional Media Fund.
Other invited guests attending the dinner were federal member for Parkes, Mark Coulton; National MLC Sam Farraway; Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence; National MLC Sarah Mitchell; and Jamie Chaffey (Country Mayors Association and Nationals candidate for Parkes).
The 2024 Awards of Excellence, which received a 25 per cent increase in entries this year, was again the feature event for most attending newspapers. In the journalism section, The Gilgandra Weekly won Best Sports Story, while Sharon Bonthuys of the Narromine Star was 2024 Journalist of the Year (the second time she has won the senior category).
The Narromine Star was also judged to be the Best Small Newspaper, a new category open to newspapers printing less than 700 copies per week. The Dubbo Photo News also took out the award for Best Free Newspaper.
