Thursday, December 29, 2011

Michigan newspaper wins APME monthly award

A Michigan newspaper's innovative method to track election results has won The Innovative Great Idea of the Month for November from the Associated Press Media Editors.

The Daily Telegram of Adrian, Mich., won the monthly national award for its usage of Google Docs as a spreadsheet to allow multiple users in its newsroom to input results.

Special Projects Editor Erik Gable wrote that the usage allowed The Daily Telegram staff members to feed “the data directly from the spreadsheet into a widget on our homepage.”

“The innovation contributed to a nice bump in election night traffic — especially with time on site, which increased roughly 25 percent per visit,” Gable wrote.

One of the judges, Laura Sellers-Earl, director of digital development for the East Oregonian Publishing Co., wrote the Daily Telegram provided “a great example of using technology to make our jobs easier while still providing quality coverage.”

APME combined its monthly Innovator of the Month and Great Idea of the Month for November because of the holiday season. Finalists for the monthly honor were the Centre Daily Times of State College, Penn., for its Twitter coverage in the case of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky and the Register Mail of Galesburg, Ill., for its community outreach of capturing children's photos during Treat Street on Halloween.

Other judges for November's entries were Jon K. Broadbrooks, executive editor, The State Journal Register in Springfield, Ill; and Kathy Best, managing editor, The Seattle Times. David Arkin, vice president of content/audience, GateHouse Media Inc., and Joe Hight, director of information and development, The Oklahoman/NewsOK.com, coordinate the contest.

If your newspaper or media company, small or large, has launched an outstanding innovation or produced a great idea, let APME know about it. You can submit your innovation at http://www.apme.com/?page=Innovator and your great idea at http://www.apme.com/?page=GreatIdeasform

Read more about The Daily Telegram's project, including a Q&A and a how-to guide at http://www.apme.com/news/news.asp?id=80097.

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