.jpg)
Reports of the demise of the newspaper industry have been around for decades. Yet here we are and newspapers are still going strong, at least in Minnesota. The Finns have a word for resilience and tenacity, they call it sisu. Newspapers have it in spades.
Ely Echo Publisher Nick Wognum and Editor Tom Coombe were in attendance last week at the Minnesota Newspaper Convention where the state’s 250 newspapers were represented by 400 attendees.
There were industry meetings, seminars on multiple topics, a luncheon with the governor and a U.S. Senator plus the Better Newspaper Contest awards banquet.
The Echo was one of the top winners, bringing home 20 awards in a variety of categories from Editorial Page, Special Section, Hard News, Advertising Excellence, Classified Advertising to Multimedia. The Echo picked up first places in oftentimes the toughest competition, competing with weekly papers with a circulation of more than 3,000.
“I’m really proud of these awards and our staff here at the Echo,” said Wognum. “Going up against newspapers from places like Worthington, Blaine and Sauk Rapids isn’t easy. That’s some tough competition.”
Attending a state convention is a belief in the newspaper business and a commitment to learn, improve and survive.
Seminar topics ranged from ethics to sales to photography to legal issues. There were also discussions on the use of technology, frustrations with the outstate delivery of newspapers by the U.S. Postal Service and how to branch out into new realms.
“We picked up the top three awards for multimedia for our Pulse of Ely podcast and in one of the seminars this was a hot topic. Other papers wanted to know more about what we were doing and how it was working,” said Wognum.
The Echo’s new website includes sections on podcasts, video and YouTube materials. A normal week includes five daily sports podcasts and two Pulse of Ely podcasts featuring topics related to the Ely area. Videos range from the All Class Reunion to outdoors activities in the North Country with Ken Hupila.
“The days of just putting out a newspaper are long gone,” said Wognum. “We have invested in audio, video and printing equipment to serve our customers better. I was at the eye doctor this week and two people thanked me for the photo printing services we provide.”
Printing newspapers takes sisu and so does running a business in a small town. The Echo has done this for over 53 years and with another 20 wins at the state convention, our commitment to covering the community has never been stronger.
