Best of 2022 - Adams Publishing Group

Telling the stories of our communities, holding elected officials accountable, and helping readers understand complex issues and processes is at the core of what our business is all about.

Excellent journalism has been a constant, despite changes in staffing, restructuring, new technology installations and shifting audience demands.

Before you get too far into the new goals and challenges of 2023, please take some time to celebrate the best of the stories that our newsrooms published in 2022. The Best of APG showcase is chock-full of work from across the company, a collection submitted by the top editors at each of our sites.

You’ll find work from across the spectrum – national enterprise projects, new audience initiatives, in-depth enterprise and accountability journalism and short, fun features.

We’ll expand on this work in 2023, and introduce better technology, new tools, training and priorities to bring in new readers and better serve the more than 130 communities across the U.S.

Mark Adams

President & CEO

BEST OF ADAMS 2022

You Won’t Find These Stories Anywhere Else. And, That’s the Point.

In Florida, even as their own homes were destroyed, powerless or roofless, our journalists helped the community figure out FEMA when Hurricane Ian tore through town.

In North Carolina, we were there on an international stage as the community played host to the Little League Softball World Series.

In Wyoming, we explained why the average person should care about the federal infrastructure bill.

For some of our communities, there were celebrations of state high school championships, and news about new places to eat and shop.

For others, we just invited readers to settle in with a compelling story: Meet the elephant seal pup in Anacortes, Washington. Hear from the Ukrainian family in Boone, N.C. And, gather ‘round in Idaho to learn about the oldest registered Angus herd continuously kept by the same family west of the Rocky Mountains (103 years!)

These were among the nearly 150 stories that answered the call for what APG editors were most proud of in 2022. And they were proud for various reasons. The hard work that went into reporting, the service to the community, the unique way the story was told, the collaboration with other newsrooms.

We published two network-wide enterprise initiatives in 2022: One a series on school safety as students were returning to the classroom following the Uvalde, Texas, tragedy. The other on inflation, a yearlong look at how consumers in 10 of our communities were affected by painfully high grocery prices.

We introduced new product initiatives in an effort to increase and engage more readers. One of the most impressive was a new special Sunday e-edition in Klamath Falls that gave readers four pages of exclusive sports content on a day when the newspaper doesn’t have a print edition.

We welcomed new colleagues in 2022 as journalists in the Yellowstone group in Montana joined our team. You’ll find a wonderful story from the Lewistown, Montana, News-Argus about Jeanne Erlandson, who lost her home of 70 years in a wildfire in 2021 and was moving into her new home eight months later.

Behind all the voices and faces, facts and perspectives in this showcase, are journalists who are a valued part of our company and our industry. We’re in a time when community news organizations are reshaping for survival, and it’s difficult not to let that get in the way of a good story.

So here’s the 2022 Best of Adams showcase, a testament to how essential local journalists are in our communities. A reason to be proud, indeed.