Heavy lift coming in 2024. But first, let’s applaud some great work from 2023.
Disruption across the news industry has been constant since any of us has been in the business, and 2023 was no exception. It’s against this backdrop that I continue to be amazed at the focus on serving communities that our local news organizations have sustained.
As I traveled across the company in the past year to meet with the local teams, I saw firsthand the energy and passion in your plans as you strategize for growth and impact. There were frustrations, to be sure, and questions about when our industry would stabilize enough to allow better traction and consistency in resources.
We’re working hard toward that day. A stronger local news business assures a stronger democracy, and never has that been more important.
In the past year, I continued to work with other local news company leaders in the fight for fair compensation from big tech as they continue to profit from our local content. We have reason to hope for more progress on that front in 2024.
Meanwhile, APG has made changes in the workflow, allowing local news operations to focus on creating content, and our sales teams to focus on building relationships and selling marketing solutions in the local business communities.
In 2023 we:
- finished the build-out of centralized pagination and moved a significant amount of our special section and ad design to a central, specialized APG team.
- consolidated solutions for audience development and customer service.
- introduced new digital solutions and training to the sales team toolboxes.
Decisions on the journalism are, and will continue to be, in the hands of local and regional editors, the people who know their communities well.
In 2024, we will use our new infrastructure to serve external clients in the pagination and design centers. We’ll continue to be a competitive solution in commercial printing, and we’ll introduce new ways to build and retain our subscriber base. We’ll work to strengthen the expertise for growth on the sales side.
Before we get too far into the new year, however, I invite you to spend some time with the best work from our newsrooms in 2023. It really sets the stage for an exciting 2024.
Mark Adams
President & CEO
Data, Investigations and Accountability
Land Purchase Raises Concern in Dunn County
Coverage from Leader-Telegram: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Failed Fire Inspection, Alarm Problems Among Issues Documented at Highland High School Prior to Devastating Blaze
Coverage from Idaho State Journal: Pocatello, Idaho
Nearly 1,400 School, Sheriff’s Office and Government Workers Top $100,000 Salaries
Coverage from Southern Maryland News: La Plata, Maryland
Editorials
What Independence Day Means to Active Duty Military and Veterans
Coverage from County News Review: Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Call to the Pen: Remembering the One and Only Steve Behr
Coverage fromThe Avery Journal Times: Newland, NC
You Ever Wonder Why They Call it ‘Breaking’ News?
Coverage from Glendive Ranger-Review: Glendive, Montana
Local Enterprise
‘A Lot We Don’t Know: Montana Mycologists, Foragers Talk Morel Mushrooms Following Deaths This Spring
Coverage from Bozeman, Montana: Bozeman Daily Chronicle
The Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Do WYO, LGBTQ+ Youth Have It?
Coverage from Cheyenne Wyoming: Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Finding a Successor: Skagit County Farmers Make Plans for the Future
Coverage from Mount Vernon, Washington: Skagit Valley Herald
Boise Students Say Assault Claims Often Met with Silence
Coverage from Nampa, Idaho: Idaho Press
60 Years After Martin Luther King Jr. Speech, Local Leaders Reflect on What Has Been Accomplished
Coverage from Easton, Maryland: Star-Democrat
‘There is a Romanticism to Montana’
Coverage from Laurel, Montana: The Laurel Outlook
Local News
Interstate Pileup Involved 85 Vehicles, No Fatalities
Coverage from Janesville, Wisconsin: The Gazette
Nightmare Becomes Reality: Man Attacks, Kidnaps Elderly Clients
Coverage from Venice, Florida: The Daily Sun
Mother Described Struggle to Help Meth-Addicted Son
Coverage from Greeneville, Tennessee: The Greeneville Sun
‘Udder Chaos’ in Livingston
Coverage from Livingston, Montana: The Livingston Enterprise
400,000 Gallons of Water Contaminated with Radioactive Tritium Leaked from Monticello Nuclear Power Plant
Coverage from Coon Rapids, Minnesota: Monticello Times
Nightmare on Highway 169
Coverage from Coon Rapids, Minnesota: Elk River Star
Features
Community Harvest: Ailing Farmer Gets Boost from Rural Tradition in Gem County
Coverage from Nampa, Idaho: Emmett Messenger Index
Peregrines Return to Ashland
Coverage from Ashland, Wisconsin: Ashland Daily Press
Turning 100: Ellensburg Woman Reflects on a Century of Adventure
Coverage from Ellensburg, Washington: Daily Record
When the Water Recedes
Coverage from Bozeman, Montana: Daily Chronicle
Historic Gravesite of Millie Ringold Located
Coverage from Stanford, Montana: Judith Basin Press
Sniffin’ Sleuths: Fire Investigator Partners withh New Arson Detection Dog
Coverage from Elkton, Maryland: Cecil Whig
Special Reports
Season to Remember: Anacortes High School’s First State Football Championships
Coverage from Mount Vernon, Washington: Skagit Valley Herald
News Leader Among Idaho Readers
Coverage from Boise/Nampa, Idaho: Idaho Press
Mental Health in America
Coverage from Across the APG Network
Sports & Outdoors
Born to Run: Brule Musher Conquers Iditarod a Year After Crash
Coverage from Ashland, Wisconsin: Ashland Daily Press
Grief Despite Victory: Melander, Nelson Remembered After New Year’s Day Snowmobile Accident
Coverage from Coon Rapids, Minnesota: County News Review
FEARLESS: Riddle ‘Stared Adversity in the Face’ and Now has Highland in Contention for Another State Title
Coverage from Pocatello, Idaho: Idaho State Journal
BEST OF ADAMS 2023
Our ‘Best’ puts a unique lens on the story of nation’s communities
Identifying our “best” is a subjective and fascinating assignment. Who’s doing the picking? What are their standards and their styles? What are the circumstances, the challenges, the resources, the opportunities involved?
Across our industry there are awards programs that recognize the best, with prizes for those who meet specific standards. There are various qualitative critiques and a growing number of quantitative tools that can identify our “best” journalism. Indeed, APG has its own contests and cash award recipients will be recognized later this month.
What I love about the Best of Adams showcase, however, is that editors across the company are tasked with entering two pieces of journalism that represent their newsroom’s best work. It’s always fun to discover what rises to the top in each editor’s assessment of a year’s portfolio.
Some editors put forth work that demonstrates dogged pursuit of information and skillful navigation of public documentation and source development. Other editors send in beautifully told feature stories.
In the end, we’re left with more than 150 pieces that are a unique lens on life in small- and medium-size communities across the U.S. Beach towns and mountain towns, shore towns, college towns, state capitals and a big chunk of the Midwest.
It was a pleasure to read all the 2023 submissions, and these pages highlight several of them. I do have a few favorites, even among these bests.
- Work that is revelatory and evokes community action: Idaho State Journal’s package by Shelbie Harris, which uncovered failed inspections and alarm problems that were documented prior to a devastating fire at a local high school.
- Stories that deliver a strong sense of place: There are several examples of this throughout the showcase, but one that was particularly well done was from the Emmett Messenger Index in Idaho. Del Gray told the story of how a community came together to help an ailing farmer with the harvest, despite difficult workloads on their own farms.
- Urgency around a national story: Kudos to the southern Wisconsin journalists for impressive hustle and teamwork following an 85-car pileup on a major interstate in the Janesville/Beloit area. Overcoming challenges with accessing the scene, the news team posted 66 updates in the nine hours after the event.
Please take some time to follow the links to some of these stories from your colleagues. This showcase presents journalism taken out of its original context, borrowed from the communities it serves and curated into a collection representing the APG network’s strength on the local news landscape.
Traci Bauer
APG Vice President of Content
More Noteworthy Stories of 2023
Data, Investigations, Accountability
Faribault Daily News
School Board Member is Activist for Anti-LGBTQ Group
Herald Journal
Reports of Wrongful Termination at County Clerk/Auditor’s Office
Bay Times and Record Observer
Parents, Local Board of Ed Officials Fight to Retain Autonomy
Circleville Herald
Video Shows Circleville Police Dog Attacking a Suspect
Anoka
Dominium Renters: ‘We’re Living in Fear’
Star Democrat
Dorchester County Faces a Reckoning After Years of Missed Audits
Vinton Jackson Courier
‘I Want Justice for My Son’
Herald Journal
Authorities: Dangerous Fentanyl Use Increasing in Previously Untouched Communities
Dorchester Star
Management Tries to Solve Problems at Altair Apartments, But is it Enough?
Star News
Some Rural Residents Questioning Highway 169 Connection
Editorial
Message Media
‘My Heart Was Broken Seeing Him in Pain…’
Enterprise
APG Network
Food & Farm Series
Dorchester Star
‘It Could Have Been My Life’
Message Media
Big Tom’s Diner Opens in Aitkin
Livingston Enterprise
Dealing with Loneliness, Isolation
Sun Sailor
Hopkins to Host City’s First-Ever Pride June 17
Sun Current
Bloomington Church Helps Stretch the Grocery Dollar
St. Peter Herald and Le Sueur News
Le Sueur PD Issues Decals Raising Awareness of Autistic Occupants
Local News
The Daily Times
A Look Inside Alcoa’s Amazon Fulfilment Warehouse, Launched Thursday
Star Democrat
Historic Federalsburg Election Brings Hope for Future
News-Argus
Moccasin WWII Veteran Accounted for after Eight Decades
Daily Times
County, Blount Memorial Hospital at Odds Over Present, Future
News Watchman
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: Tiger the Cat is Back on the Job
Rogersville Review
Demolition Reveals Lost Original 1790s Era Log Kitchen at Rogers Tavern
Owatonna People’s Press
Allina Announces Closure of Homestead Hospice House
Ranger Review
Done-Inn: Massive Fire Guts Century-old Jordan Inn Building
Anacortes American
Anacortes Mayor Critical of Proposed Ordinance
Press and News
STMA Grad, Veteran, Fargo Police Officer Killed in Shooting
Sun Current
Carr Receives Richfield’s Human Rights Award
Venice Gondolier
Jury Rules in Favor of Family in ‘Maya’ Case
Stanwood-Camano News
Rainbows and Celebration: Stanwood-Camano Holds Second Annual Pride Event
Skagit Valley Herald
Efforts Throughout Area Working Toward Restoration of Stillaguamish Chinook Habitat
Sun Post
2-Year Anniversary of Daunte Wright’s Death Marked with Balloon Release
Sun Patriot
Waconia Teachers Put Attention on Contract Negotiations
Perry Tribune
County, College Argue Property Lawsuit in Appeals Court
Logan Daily News
Local Churches Join Those that have Split from United Methodists
The Chronotype
Communities Mourning Deaths of Two Police Officers Killed in Performance of their Duties
Kent County News
Lifeguards at Betterton Save 5-Year-Old
Yadkin Ripple
Jace Allen Sentenced to 20-33 Months in Shooting Death of Norah Smitherman
Reflector
City Councilman Involved in Sale of House at Center of Greek request
Dundalk Eagle
Two 18-Year-Olds Arrested after Carjacking Spree in Dundalk
The Carroll News
Toddler Found after Three-Hour Search
Sun Sailor
First-Ever Twin Cities West Metro Asian Fair to be Held in Plymouth
Sun Sailor
Gone Fishin’: Wayzata Bait & Tackle to Close after 48 Years
Judith Basin Press
A Hunt to Heal
Union Times
Princeton Officer Injured in Five-Officer Shooting: Suspect in Custody
Idaho Press
Gov. Brad Little’s Office Told State Health Department to Pull Boise Pride Sponsorships
Avery Journal
Town Celebrates Longtime Clerk Connie Guinn with Retirement Party
Skagit Valley Herald
Sedro-Woolley Shutters Meth-Contaminated Motel, Residents Given Little Warning
Emmett Messenger Index
Emmett Gets Closer Look at SH-16 Planning Process
The Leader
Hope on Wheels: Mobile Opioid Addiction Treatment Facility Comes to Tremonton
Forest Lake Times
Bus Drivers Demand Higher Pay in Filing for Strike
Sun Current
Civil Rights Complaint Filed Against Edina Schools over Student Protesters’ Suspensions
Sun Sailor
Couple Married Nearly 50 Years Met During Eden Prairie Schooner Days
Avery Journal-Times
LMC May Wildlife Rehabilitation Center Releases Red-Tailed Hawk
Watauga Democrat
A Roar in the Sky: The Jets that Fly the High Country
Newark Post
Arrest of Newark High Student Outside Graduation Ceremony Prompts Anger, Allegations of Bias
Livingston Enterprise
PFL Thriving as New CEO Takes the Reins
Sun Sailor
Critics of Regional Bike Trail Route through St. Louis Park Gain High-Profile Ally
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
The Victim has Vanished from the Case
Stanwood Camano News
Camano Fire Seeks Increase in Fire Levy
Stanwood Camano News
Snohomish PUD Continues Work on High-Voltage Line to Camano
Sun Post
Conference for Rare Moebius Syndrome Gathers in Brooklyn Park, Builds Community
Patriot
St. Boni Legion Post Disbands After Nearly 80 Years
Perry County Tribune
New Lex Warned: Zoning Out Homeless Shelter Invites a Lawsuit
Logan Daily News
School District Asked to Balance Bible Classes with Atheist Teaching
The Chronotype
Parents Panicked as Pediatric Therapy Clubhouse Set to Close
Stokes News
Belews Creek Goes Nuclear in New Duke Energy Plan
Laker Pioneer
Long Lake Accuses Orono of Violating Court Order
Carbon County News
Local Dog Hit and In Need of Christmas Miracle
Kent County News
Protesters Silence Renowned Speaker at Washington College
Yadkin Ripple
A Mother’s Fight for Justice
Features
Leader-Telegram
Way Off the Grid
News-Argus
Faded Valentine: Not Much Left of Prairie Town
Boise Weekly
Suicide Prevention and Tattoos: Punctuate Life with a Semicolon
Southern Maryland News
Mechanicsville Resident Hikes Appalachian Trail
Idaho State Journal
East Idaho Motel Named to National Register of Historic Places After Nearly a Century of Serving Travelers
Faribault Daily News
Amplifier Business is First of Downtown Redevelopment
Morrison County Record
Pearl Harbor Never Forgotten, Always Remembered
Terry Tribune
Slithers & Squeaks: Terry Resident Raises and Breeds Pythons and Rats as a Side Hustle During Retirement
Athens Messenger
Writing Kept Romance Alive During Decaminadas’ Long-Distance Courtship
Press and News
Heading into Retirement: ‘A Sincere Thank You to All My Customers’
Laurel Outlook
“It’s Made Me the Person I am Today”
Skagit Valley Herald
Stories of Honor: Evert Bergquist
The Leader
Forever in a Moment: Tremonton’s Newest Mural an Homage to Shoshone Past, Present and Future
Forest Lake Times
Giving Up the Stigma
Sun Current
Shepherd of the Hills Welcomes First Black, Female, Gay Pastor
Sun Sailor
Legally Blind Minnetonka Chiropractor Chases Professional, Athletic Dreams
Avery Journal
Adam Church Featured Friday Evening Concert at Linville Falls Winery
Watauga Democrat
Holocaust Survivor Recalls Early Childhood, Establishing Jewish Studies Center at App State
Newark Post
Heartfelt Gratitude: Newark Teen Forms a Bond with the Stranger who Received her Late Father’s Heart
Carbon County News
WW II Vet’s Family Reflects on Sacrifice and Service
Livingston Enterprise
‘We Were as Big as Michael Jackson’
Spooner Advocate
Minong Youth Finds his ‘Space’
Union Times
4,000 Hats Made by One Man Warm Heads Around the World
Monticello Times
Fire Captain Retires after 28 Years
Bay Times and Record Observer
Three Gold Medals: At 100, Wally Dashiell Continues her Winning Ways
Circleville Herald
Local Veteran Takes Honor Flight
ABC Newspapers
‘This Will be my Legacy’
Boise Weekly
One Crop at a Time — Local Nonprofit Helps Address Food Insecurity
East Idaho Business Journal
‘PRETTY DARN BLESSED’: Former Cop Achieves Lifelong Dream of Opening Art Studio
Morrison County Record
Kurt Lucking, a Living, Walking, Talking Miracle
Terry Tribune
Liles Family Continues Generations of Tradition
Athens Messenger
Famed Folk Artist Appearing at Fur Peace Ranch
Press & News
Champlin Brothers Music Dreams Come True
Anacortes American
“Life is Precious” – Moulton Finds Greater Empathy in Cancer Battle
Rogersville Review
Artwork You Can Drive: Pressman’s Home Artists Creates Replica ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ Car
Monticello Times
The Perfect Catch: Steve and Janet Bromberg’s 59 Years Together Began on a Softball Field
Press and News
Rogers 11-Year-Old ‘Still Finds Joy in Things, Good in People’
Anacortes American
Anacortes Nonprofit Provides Direct Funding to Ukrainian Groups
Elkin Tribune
Bridge of Unity Hosts 2023 Juneteenth Celebration
Special Reports
The Herald and News
Wade in the Water: Stories of the Klamath River
Livingston Enterprise
Celebrating National Women Small Business Month
Keys News
Jimmy Buffett Dies at 76
Sports
News Watchman
Ready to Go: Tackett Embarking on Inaugural Racing Season in 305 Sprints
Spooner Advocate
RECORD BREAKER: 69th Spooner Rodeo Attendance Best Ever
Cecil Whig
Fair Hill Holds Special Significance for Maryland Five Star Competitor
Reflector
Little League World Series Coverage
Dundalk Eagle
‘Proud in Victory, Humble in Defeat’: Dundalk Football Falls to Perry Hall Gators 14-7
The Carroll News
Lady Cavs Repeat as State Champs
Keys News
SCORE Magazine
Mt. Airy News
Bears Advance to 4th Round with Shutout
Athens Messenger
Tariq Cottrill Looks to Cap off Historic Career with One Last Ride at Federal Hocking
Elkin Tribune
Starmount’s Lane Relishes Special Opportunity
The Stokes News
Angel in the Outfield
Greeneville Sun
My Favorite Team
Laker Pioneer
Westonka, Waconia Bowlers Go for Pins, Wins
Mt. Airy News
Clash of the Titans
Athens Messenger
Albany to Athens: Grissett Looks to Leave Legacy at Alexander Before Becoming a Bobcat
Circleville Herald
Camden McDanel Brings Home Gold in Pan-American Championships