Award announced for The Batavian in newspaper Web site contest

A 125-year-old newspaper industry trade group announced today a third-place award for The Batavian in the General Excellence category for news Web sites in small circulation markets.

This marks the first time the Inland Press Association -- which counts among its members more than 1,100 newspapers in North America -- has given an award to an online-only news site.

Entrants in the contest were judged by a group of seven academics and industry experts. The judges said of The Batavian:

With many interactive storytelling features including polls and feedback on each story, The Batavian serves its audience with a well-edited community-focused site.

The top winners in the category were the Statesboro Herald, out of Statesboro, Ga., for its Web site, StatesboroHerald.com, and taking second was NVDaily.com, the Web site of the North Virginia Daily, out of Strasburg, Va.

The Batavian entered the contest in the 20,000 or less circulation category after being informed by officials at IPA that its entry would be welcome. Even though The Batavian has no print circulation, the category seemed appropriate given the newspaper in the local market, the Batavia Daily News, has a circulation somewhere in the 10,000 to 11,000 range.

Taking top honors in the over 20,000 category was The News-Gazette, Champaign, Ill. for its Web site, IlliniHQ.com.

The Inland Press Association first gave a General Excellance award for Web site publishing in 2006. Winning that inaugural award was Bakersfield.com, the Web site of the Bakersfield Californian. Howard Owens, publisher of The Batavian, was VP of Interactive for the Californian just prior to IPA honoring the Web site.