Star Weekly picked up three gongs at this year’s Victorian Country Press Association media awards.
The annual awards were held last Friday, with Star Weekly receiving the awards for Best Sports Story (over 6000 circulation), Best News Photo (over 6000 circulation) and Best Digital Advertisement.
Brimbank and North West reporter Tara Murray took the award for Best Sports Story for her piece on Molly Jovic’s journey from the City West Falcons to the Suncorp Super Netball competition.
The judge described the story as “simple but engaging”, commending for Murray for her effort to tell the story of a sportsperson “who appears to be something of accidental star”.
“Much like the netballer she is writing about, this piece from Tara Murray shows just how much impact you can have when the basics are well executed,” the judge said.
Photographer Damjan Janevski won the award for Best News Photo for his image of wheel gymnastics course participants during a summer holiday intensive program in Werribee in January.
The judge said Janevski’s image took top spot in the category due to the obvious effort put into perfectly arranging the subjects before pushing the shutter release.
“The photograph immediately captures the readers’ attention due to the very good use of framing.”
Wyndham Star Weekly’s advertisement for Federation Village, designed by creative designer John Anastasiou, won the Best Digital Advertisement Award.
“This is a well laid out advertisement,” the judge said.
“The main image is engaging and appropriate for the target audience. The messaging is clear, easy to understand, and comprehensive without being cluttered. The price point dropping down is particularly eye catching and encourages click-through.”
Overall, the Star News Group picked up six of the 33 gongs at the awards, with the Pakenham Gazette winning Best News Photo (2000 – 6000 circulation), Best News Story (2000-6000) and Best Community Campaign (2000-6000).
