The Weekly Vista won 14 awards, including third place in General Excellence, in the Arkansas Press Association's annual contest. The awards were announced Saturday during a convention in Little Rock.
The newspaper competes in the large weeklies category.
"I want to thank the reporters and office staff at The Vista for the work they dedicate to producing the best newspaper possible for the people of Bella Vista," Editor Kent Marts said. "Each and every week they strive to tell the story of Bella Vista as it unfolds."
Marts also thanked the subscribers, readers and advertisers.
"Those are the most important group of judges we have to impress," Marts said. "Each week they decide to spend their money with us -- hopefully because they know we offer thorough, accurate, well-researched stories into things that are important to them. I also want to thank the advertisers who use the newspaper to reach their target audience."
The Weekly Vista's sister paper, The Siloam Springs Herald-Leader, won second place general excellence.
The awards were:
First Place
• Lynn Atkins, Coverage of Education
• Keith Bryant, Picture Page/Photo Essay; "Face first in Little Sugar Creek"; a photo page on a man who snorkels in the creek and takes amazing photographs of the aquatic life
• Keith Bryant, Feature Story; "Face first in Little Sugar Creek"
• Kent Marts, Sports Feature Story; "Marts-ing through the minor league"; Story about the food and fun discovered on a trip to a few of baseball's minor league parks
• Kent Marts, News/Political Column; "Daddy, you always told us"; a column about the conflict between how children have been taught to do when encountering the police and what happened when a man was shot doing what officers told him to do.
Second Place
• Dale Neseman, Editorial Cartoons
• Lynn Atkins, Coverage of Business and Agriculture
• Kent Marts, News Story; "Scam leads to bomb scare; story about a bomb scare at the police department
• Kent Marts, Headline Writing; "Bella Vista's fastest retirees"; a headline about retired greyhounds
Third Place
• Keith Bryant, Best Beat Reporter, City Government
• Lynn Atkins, Sports News Story; "Golfers trade their clubs for rakes and shovels"; Story about golfers cleaning up the flood-damaged golf courses
• Kent Marts, Best front page
Honorable Mention
• Lynn Atkins, News story; "Bike-truck crash kills ride organizer
General News on 07/12/2017