OVN wins two in national contest
The Ojai Valley News has won two national awards, taking first place for best sports column and for best serious column in its circulation category for all non-daily newspapers between 3,000 and 6,000 circulation.
The awards will be presented today at the National Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest ceremony in Portland, Ore., during their 116th annual convention.
Both columns were written by Bret Bradigan; the sports column was published April 6, 2001, and was headlined "Diamonds are a boy's best friend," and the serious column was published June 15 and was headlined "Father knew best."
"This is quite an honor," said Bradigan, the OVN's editor and publisher, "one that I'm happy to share with all our excellent staff here at the OVN. But our readers should take a bow, as well.
"Ojai is the smallest newspaper I've worked for, but the amount of interest, comment, criticism and feedback I get here easily exceeds anything I've experienced elsewhere. And, frankly, knowing that I am writing for this discerning and demanding audience makes me try harder."
Running a newspaper in the hothouse that is Ojai is challenging, he said. "As I've said before, Ojai people are much better educated and more earnestly engaged than most small towns - it's like trying to put out a newspaper for New York Times audience on a Mayberry, RFD budget."
The Ojai Valley News won three awards for its work earlier this year from the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Bradigan had previously placed second in the NNA contest for column writing in 1993 and 1996. There are more than 2,000 member newspapers in the circulation category.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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