The St. Louis American recently won an international first place Community Leadership Award by Inland Press Association, an organization of more than 1,200 member newspapers in all 50 states, Canada and Bermuda.
The American won in its circulation class, 25,001-75,000 circulation, for its annual Salute to Excellence programs, which include four quarterly events (Salute to Education, Business, Health Care and Young Leaders), and other events in the community, including Money Wise workshops.
Money Wise workshops are free to the community, and provide extremely useful financial information for our readers. A variety of important topics are covered in the Money Wise workshops, including: budgeting, living on a fixed income, home buying, investing, and debt relief. There are also programs for teaching children how to budget and save.
Our staff gives a special thanks to our partner AfroWorld for hosting the workshops, and to our main sponsors Midwest Bank Centre and St. Louis Community Credit Union.
According to Inland Press Association, the purpose of the Community Leadership Award is to encourage newspapers to take the initiative in making their communities better places in which to live and work.
The Community Leadership Award recognizes the initiative and achievements of newspapers working through the combined resources of news coverage, editorial support and staff involvement to improve the community. Entries were to show how the local newspaper is effectively involved in the life of its community.
Judging criteria for the Community Leadership Award were: Significance of the community project(s) or activity(-ies), need, depth, originality and public interest; how the newspaper used its initiative, staff and resources, including news coverage, columnists, and editorial voice; and the impact or results of the project or activity.