The Mercury staff last year produced seven stories that received commendations from the National Newspapers Association’s 2024 Better Newspaper Contest.
The annual nationwide contest honors the best in community journalism, and this year’s awards went to pieces published in 2023. The Mercury won one first-place award and earned a second-place pick, two third-place nods and three honorable mentions.
News editor and Kansas State women’s basketball beat reporter Zach DeLoach claimed the top spot in the sports column category with “It’s time to hop on the women’s hoops bandwagon,” published Nov. 18. The piece called on K-State fans to join the national hype around women’s basketball, especially as the Wildcats were poised to have a breakout season in 2023-24.
“A very prescient column about a timely topic,” the contest judge wrote in their comments on the column. “Written well and at a good length for a column, not too long but not too short. Easy for casual sports followers like me to understand without feeling dumbed-down. This was the ideal column out of all the entries; other columnists take note!”
DeLoach also placed in the top three of two other categories. His story “LAST STOP: K-State ends year with Elite 8 loss to FAU” was the runner-up for best sports story. The March 25 article detailed the Wildcat men’s basketball team’s disappointing 79-76 defeat against Florida Atlantic at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“A fan who had to miss the game just had to read this coverage,” the competition judge wrote. “Goes beyond a typical game story.”
DeLoach’s article “GOT THEIR GOAT: Meet Gap Goat, the alleged key to K-State’s defensive success” claimed third place in the sports feature competition. The piece published in November broke the news of Gap Goat, the Wildcat women’s basketball team’s stuffed goat mascot that gained massive popularity within the fandom.
“This is the lightest subject matter out of the four entries that placed, but so what?” the judge wrote. “It’s a fun read, it was worth reporting and it was reported well.”
Publisher Ned Seaton picked up three accolades for his editorials. His piece “The banana republic just an hour south of us” took third place in the best editorial competition. The editorial compared the shocking August 2023 police raid on the Marion County Register to efforts to suppress press freedom in authoritarian countries and argued in favor of journalists’ ability to do their jobs without intervention.
“This was an important issue the newspaper really HAD to cover,” the contest judge wrote. “The writer did a great job of localizing the issue.”
In addition, Seaton garnered the honorable mention for the editorial contest with his May 15 work “The booze-tax shell game,” which criticized the Manhattan city commission for trying to dip into the alcohol tax — which is supposed to pay for prevention and treatment of drug and alcohol problems — to fund the general operation of the government and hold down property taxes.
“The writer does a good job of explaining a very complicated issue,” the judge wrote.
Seaton also received an honorable mention for “The intermittent grief” in the best serious column category. In “The intermittent grief,” Seaton grapples with the sudden and unexpected waves of grief that hit him following the death of his father, former publisher Ed Seaton.
“Well-done column on the personal emotions of losing a dad at holiday time,” the judge commented.
Executive editor Megan Moser garnered an honorable mention in the preserving local history category for her story “‘Wildkittens’: 50 years after Title IX, a look back at women’s sports at K-State. The article used a selection of clippings from the Royal Purple yearbook to provide a snapshot of the evolution of women’s athletics programs at K-State, beginning in 1904 and concluding in 1974. The title, “Wildkittens,” is a reference to the nickname the yearbook used for women’s sports teams in the 1970s.
“Interesting historical look back at women’s athletics,” the judge wrote.
