General News
8 June, 2022
Your local newspaper picks up State awards
THE Express has picked up three prestigious awards at the recent Queensland Country Press Association annual conference and awards.
The newspaper, which has a 12-year history, was awarded Best Free Newspaper, Best Online Publication and Best Newspaper Supplement Insert or Best Special Publication for the 2021 FNQ Rotary Field Days official guide.
Managing director Carl Portella was at the Brisbane ceremony and accepted the awards on behalf of the team at The Express.
“It was thrilling to get these awards because it really validates what we do and how important the paper is to the Tablelands community,” he said.
“We have a small team but we pride ourselves on delivering a product that informs our community, raises awareness about issues that affect them, and celebrates the many fantastic events we have in our region.”
He said winning the Best Special Publication award for the Rotary FNQ Field Days guide was a particularly proud moment and thanked everyone involved with the development of the product.
“It was a collaborative effort between our Paper Manager Natasha Srhoj, Field Days journalist Andrea Falvo, who crafted the editorial content, and Field Days marketing coordinator Jeanette Sturiale who put together a very professional and informative product that really captured the character and importance of the Field Days,” Mr Portella said.
“And it was even more pleasing when I learned that the booklet was the best of 43 other supplements entered in that category,” he added.
“The publication was well supported with a high level of advertising and the design of all the adverts were very professional and stylish – all at a high level,” Judge Renee White commented.
“The page layout was neat, clear and concise but still creative and colourful.
I would assume the Rotary Clubs would have been impressed with the high quality of this 56-page publication.”
The Express also picked up second place in this category for the Tablelands Better Beef Open Day booklet.
In winning the Best Free Newspaper, the paper’s “clear bold headlines and well-written stories with solid advertising support in different sections including entertainment, property and rural section and strong classifieds” was noted by Judge Rohan Gosstray.
“The print publication is supported by an excellent online website with flip book and text to audio on stories and a community advertising directory promoted with Google ad words.”
The introduction of the new audio tool on the The Express website late last year was one of the key reasons the newspaper picked up the Best Online Publication award.
Ad Auris is a narration tool designed to transform written work into audio, providing a new level of accessibility that allows anyone to access the news easily, particularly those with reading or vision challenges.
“And The Express has exciting new ideas that we are working on at the moment which will deliver visual multimedia news to our readers which will add another level of how we present the news to our community,” Mr Portella said.
