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CSI Media papers garner state, national awards

DELAVAN — Walworth County Sunday placed second nationally in the Outstanding Publications category of the annual awards contest conducted by the Association of Free Community Papers.

The honor is one of more than a dozen national and state awards won by CSI Media publications in recent weeks, and comes in the category for papers with the largest percentage of editorial content. The Reminder of East Longmeadow, Mass., placed first; the Washington Beacon of Washington, D.C., was third. Last year, Walworth County Sunday placed third in AFCP’s Best of Show category.

In 2007, CSI’s Stateline News placed third in the Outstanding Publications category. AFCP has several thousand-member papers.

“It’s not surprising to see the CSI team awarded this recognition, because they continue to turn out such high-quality community newspapers,” said Sidney “Skip” Bliss, president of Bliss Communications, parent company of CSI Media. “It recognizes an outstanding group of people who produce CSI products each and every week.”

CSI papers won a total of five AFCP awards, including first place for classified advertising promotion, second place for grocery advertising, second place for news writing and third place for column writing.

CSI papers received 11 awards from Wisconsin Community Papers, the state association for the free community newspaper industry.

And the Printing Industries of Wisconsin presented CSI with its Badger Award, the organization’s top honor, as part of its 10th annual Graphic Excellence Awards program.

“I’m very proud of all of our teams at CSI Media,” said company Vice President and General Manager Dan Pyfer. “They deserve the credit for all of their hard work in a challenging economy.”

Walworth County Sunday placed second in the WCP’s General Excellence category, and swept all three awards in the special sections category.

Pat Bladow, CSI’s Walworth County sales manager, noted the awards recognize all facets of newspaper production.

“To have state-level recognition in display advertising, classified advertising, self promotion, editorial content and website design, and to sweep in the special sections category with glossy magazines is absolutely outstanding,” Bladow said. “The general excellence award is the icing on the cake.”

The WCP awards included three for editorial content.

Director of Sports Rick West received a first-place award for a story in March 2009 on the 40th anniversary of the historic half-court state-tournament shot made by Beloit Memorial High School’s Lamont Weaver. The shot heard ’round the state, as it came to be known, helped the Purple Knights win the 1969 Wisconsin state basketball championship.

Former staff writer Lynn Vollbrecht, now a freelance contributor to CSI Media publications, received a second-place award for a story on the deployment of local troops to Iraq in February 2009, and a third-place award for a story on the local effects of plummeting milk prices.

Vollbrecht’s story on Wisconsin’s statewide smoking ban placed second nationally in the AFCP contest.

CSI Media Associate Editor Dan Plutchak received a third-place award from AFCP for a column on a controversy surrounding Elkhorn teacher Sarah Arnold’s grant application to Teaching Tolerance magazine.

“These awards demonstrate our continuing commitment to providing readers with top-notch news coverage, features, sports, commentary and photography,” said Bruce Heisel, CSI Media’s managing editor. “We have an accomplished, dedicated staff.”

CSI’s prepress department received several awards, including second-place statewide and nationally for its creative grocery ads designed for Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly in Delavan.

CSI’s graphic designers also were recognized for a promotional-advertising campaign, “Symbol of Excellence,” after CSI earned a Gold Standard Award from the Circulation Verification Council, and for the classified promotional ads, “Place your ad online” and “Garage sale promo.”

“We have very experienced ad designers who take a lot of pride in the ads and special section covers they create,” said Mary Ann Millard, CSI’s composition manager. “I’m impressed by their creativity while meeting the demanding deadlines that are part of the newspaper business.

“These awards recognize the high-quality ad design work that produces great results for CSI advertisers.”

The state Printing Industries awards program, one of the largest in the nation, recognizes companies that combine craftsmanship and technology in the creation, design and production of printed materials. This year, PIW had more than 800 entries in its contest.

CSI’s Badger Award is the top honor in the newspaper category.

“This was our first time entering the contest,” said CSI Production Manager Dave Chvilicek. “We were very happy to receive this award, which recognizes superior print quality, reproduction and overall design.”

CSI Media publications are delivered to more than 100,000 homes in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois each Wednesday and Sunday. The company also distributes numerous special sections and magazines throughout the year, and is one of the region’s top commercial printers.