Christmas comes early every year for the BEACON staff when our publisher, Kevin, returns from the annual North American Mature Publishers Association (NAMPA) convention.

This year’s convention took place in Memphis. Aside from listening to jazz on Beale Street and enjoying the sights with other senior publishers from across the country, a highlight of the convention is the awards banquet, where senior publications big and small vie for top honors in a variety of categories. Publications are independently judged on the quality of their written content, editing, design, photography, web content and more by the prestigious Missouri School of Journalism. The best are then commended for their efforts with awards.

This year, your BEACON Senior News and its staff were nominated in the following categories:

Column Review

•  “Talking Digital” by Adam Cochran

How-to Feature

•  “Made in the shade: Varying degrees of light, moisture, warmth lead to a robust garden” by Paige Slaughter (June 2019)

• “My car is broken. Now what?” by Corey Colombin (June 2019)

Profile

•  “Captain of Mercy: Retired captain volunteers aboard vessel          of hope” by Carole McKelvey (November 2018)

•  “Gold Star survivors” by Melanie Wiseman (September 2018)

Feature Writing

•  “Who rescued who?” by Cloie Sandlin (August 2018)

•  “Love is in the little things” by Melanie Wiseman (February 2019)

•  “Where the dinosaurs roamed: Moab museum gives a closer          look at these prehistoric giants” by Dianna Barnett (June 2019)

•  “Donate Life: Anyone can register as an organ and tissue donor” by CJ Payton (February 2019)

•  “100 years of war: Honoring those who fought bravely" by Jan Weeks (November 2018)

•  “Hammin’ it up on the airwaves: Amateur radio spans generations, saves lives” by Jan Weeks (July 2018)

Topical Issue

•  “Changing the narrative on aging” by Debra Dobbins (June 2019)

•  “Building a better community: How will a community center impact Grand Junction seniors?” by Melanie Wiseman (October 2018)

•  “Gun sense = common sense” by Susan Elenz (April 2019)

Front Cover Photo

•  Feel good about giving (March 2019) by Cloie Sandlin

Feature Layout

•  “Art from the Heart” (June 2019) by B. Bigler

•  “Living off the grid” (June 2019) by Chrissy Martin

•  “BEACON Best Awards” (February 2019) by Melissa Trottier

Overall Design

•  BEACON Senior News, Colorado

Annual Senior Resource Guide (Editorial & Design)

•  2019 BEACON Guide

Best Single Ad

•  “Don’t Decay,” Barr Dentistry (October 2018)

•  “Glaucoma or Guacamole?” 1-Hour Eye Docs (May 2019)

•  “Bored, sad and lonely is no way to spend a summer,” Grand Mesa Baptist Camp (May 2019)

Website General Excellence

•  BEACON Senior News, Colorado

 

And the winners are...

How-To Feature

2nd Place -  “My car is broken. Now what?” by Corey Colombin

Feature Writing

3rd Place - “Who rescued who?” by Cloie Sandlin

Annual Senior Resource Guide

1st Place (Design) - 2019 BEACON Guide

1st Place (Editorial) - 2019 BEACON Guide

Feature Layout

3rd Place - “Living off the grid” by Chrissy Martin

Best Single Ad

1st Place - “Don’t Decay,” Barr Dentistry

2nd Place - “Bored, sad and lonely is no way to spend a summer,” Grand Mesa Baptist Camp

3rd Place – “Guacamole or Glaucoma,” 1-Hour Eye Docs

 

Putting together a BEACON isn’t easy. It takes novel ideas, creative design and photography, careful editing, intriguing and well-written stories, supportive advertisers and a dedicated staff.

I believe that the number and quality of the local articles we publish in the BEACON make us stand out at such competitions. Many of our award-winning stories about local people and local issues might never have been written if it weren’t for our wonderful, local writers. Thank you!

But above all, the BEACON would not be where it is today if it weren’t for you, our readers. Thank you for reading the BEACON Senior News.