American receives 2017 Gold Cup award from Missouri Press for fourth time in five years

The St. Louis American won 37 awards, including the Gold Cup award for large weeklies, from Missouri Press Association in its 2017 Better Newspaper Contest. Awards were presented Saturday, September 28 at the association’s 151st annual convention in Springfield.

This marks the fourth time in the past five years that The St. Louis American has won top honors among all large weeklies from the state press association. The American also took home first place honors for General Excellence, marking the seventh time the newspaper has won that award.

Each year, a different state press associations judges the competition. This year, it was the Michigan Press Association.

“This publication has depth and breadth and passion. It shows throughout the whole product.  Weekly newspapers are renowned for serving their communities and this newspaper does so with conviction,” judges from the Michigan Press Association wrote of The American.

“There is great variety in story topics, wonderful, appropriate use and quality of photos, consistency and purpose in design, sections that matter, such as health and business, extensive sports coverage (especially local), appropriate ad placement and design, good headline style with major hedes and decks and subhedes.” 

The American also received nine other first place awards: Community Service (Salute to Excellence), Best News Story (Rebecca Rivas, “Was it suicide by hanging or not?”), Best Coverage of Government (NGA in St. Louis series), Best News Photo (Lawrence Bryant, “Mike in Memoriam”), Best Headline Writing, Best Columnist – Serious (Mike Jones), Best Story About History (Chris King “Lewis & Ebo Share Battle Scars”), Best Sports Columnist (Alvin A. Reid), Best Sports Pages, Best Photo Package (Lawrence Bryant, “Salute to Fashion”), Best Video (Rebecca Rivas), Best News or Feature Special Section (Diversity, A Business Imperative), and the Tilghman Cloud Memorial Editorial Award (“Chancellor gets in way of gun violence”).

The paper’s second place awards include: Best Online Newspaper or Website (stlamerican.com), Best Investigative Reporting (Rebecca Rivas), Best Local Business Coverage, Multi-Media Reporting (Rebecca Rivas), Best Story About Education (Pat Matreci), Best Columnist – Serious (Chris King, Political Eye), Best Story About Rural or Agricultural Life (Chris King “Fishing with Cops”), Best Video (Rebecca Rivas), and Best Newspaper In Education Project (Cathy Sewell, STEM Page). The American also received a number of third place and honorable mention awards.

“This was team effort, from the front desk to our news staff, sales staff, accounting and administrative staff,” said Donald M. Suggs, publisher and executive editor of The St. Louis American “We couldn’t be more proud. We don’t take these awards lightly. These accolades from industry professionals are a testament to the consistent, professional, hard work we strive for for our community.”