Contest success shows breadth, quality of coverage

Earlier this month, the Southeast Missourian won 37 awards in the Missouri Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest.

Thirteen of those 37 were first-place awards in the Southeast Missourian's circulation class, including the general excellence winner for the second year in a row. That means every part of the paper exceeded expectations for variety of coverage, presentation and professionalism.

Please forgive us for tooting our horn. But when it comes to the recent contest, we're as proud of the breadth of our coverage as we are the quality.

From business and agriculture, to photography and breaking news, from opinion to features, from government coverage to in-depth journalism, the contest demonstrated that we are not a one-trick pony. To us, that means we're covering your community holistically, not just jumping on crime and tragedy to grab your attention.

No other local news source is able to offer that variety of content on so many important issues in the Cape Girardeau region.

A huge amount of hard work and cooperation goes into the many decisions that add up to each day's paper. And news doesn't always happen at convenient times. We would like to congratulate the journalists, including those who work behind the scenes, who bring the news and stories about your neighbors every day.

As always, we humbly thank everyone who helps gather and process accurate, thoughtful information and often stunning photographs. We are happy to be your No. 1 source of news, storytelling, photojournalism and information in Southeast Missouri.

And we thank our readers, who motivate us every day to give journalism our best effort.