Legislative Council Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Matters of Interest Country Press SA Awards COUNTRY PRESS SA AWARDS The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS Legislative Council The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:32): I rise today to speak of the Country Press SA newspaper awards held at the Port Lincoln Hotel on 15 March. I was pleased to attend this awards night and dinner once again. Particularly pleasing that night was to note the election that day of the new president of the association, Mr David Wright, editor of the Northern Argus at Clare, succeeding Mr Trevor Channon, manager of The Murray Valley Standard at Murray Bridge. I was also pleased that in attendance that night were the local state member Mr Peter Treloar, the member for Grey in the federal parliament Mr Rowan Ramsey, and the Minister for Tourism Hon. Leon Bignell. I was pleased once again to present the Community Profile award and I was delighted that this year's judge of that award was Georgina McGuinness. I congratulate Mr Sonny Coombs from the Yorke Peninsula Country Times on winning that award with second place going to Billie Harrison from Port Lincoln Times and Brad Perry from Riverland Weekly. I would like to take some time to go through some of the other award winners. The Best Newspaper over 6,000 circulation went to The Border Watch at Mount Gambier for the third occasion in a row. Second place went to The Courier at Mount Barker. Third place went to the Yorke Peninsula Country Times. The Best Newspaper between 2,500 and 6,000 was won by The Murray Valley Standard for the ninth time in a row. Second went to The Naracoorte Herald and equal third place went to the Katherine Times and the Whyalla News. The Best Newspaper under 2,500 circulation was won by The South Eastern Times at Millicent. Second was won by The Islander and third by The Plains Producer at Balaklava. The Best Advertisement (Image/Branding) award went to The Leader at Angaston with The Plains Producer second and the Port Lincoln Times third. The Best Advertisement (Priced Product) award was won by The Leader. Second went to the Yorke Peninsula Country Times and third to the Roxby Downs Sun. The Best Advertising feature was won by The Times at Victor Harbor. Second place went to Eyre Peninsula Tribune and third to the Barrier Daily Truth at Broken Hill. Best Supplement was won by The Leader, and second place went to The Bunyip at Gawler and third to The Islander. The Best News Photograph was won by Will Slee of The Murray Pioneer, second place went to Shaun Kowald of the Barossa and Light Herald and third to Celeste Lustosa of The Recorder at Port Pirie. The Best Sports Photograph was won by Chelsea Ashmeade of the Northern Argus, second place went to Laura Wright from The Courier, and third was shared between Courtney McFarlane of The Times, Victor Harbor, and William Bailey of The Murray Valley Standard. The Best Front Page award was won by The River News at Waikerie, second place went to The South Eastern Times and third to Yorke Peninsula Country Times. The award for Editorial Writing was won by The Islander, with The Border Watch in second place and The Times, Victor Harbor, was third. The award for Excellence in Journalism was won by Kimberlee Meier of the Port Lincoln Times, with Sandra Morello of The Border Watch in second place and Craig Treloar of The River News in third. The final award was for the Best Sports Story, and that was won by Rod Morris of The Border Watch, second place went to Les Pearson from the Plains Producer, and third place went to Ben Jones of The Bunyip. It was a very enjoyable night, one that celebrated the 101^st year of Country Press SA, and once again I congratulate that organisation on the professionalism it shows in its awards night but also in the way that it deals with the broader community; I know, sir, that in the past you have enjoyed those award events. Once again, I commend the country newspapers of South Australia to this house.