MADISON — The Monroe Times received 25 awards in this year’s Wisconsin Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. The banquet for the 2023 contest was held March 15 at the Concourse Hotel in Madison.

The contest was judged by the Kentucky Newspaper Association, and there were more than 1,400 entries from publications across the state. Entries for the contest had to be printed between Sept. 1, 2022 and Aug. 31, 2023. The Wisconsin State Journal was named the Newspaper of the Year in the Daily Division, while the Lakeland Times won the award for top weekly newspaper for the second year in a row. The Monroe Times held the honor as Newspaper of the Year for 2018, 2020 and 2021.

Of the 25 awards, Monroe Times staff were named the top of the division in seven different categories. The Times had three second place awards, 10 third place and five honorable mentions. Seven awards went to the advertising department, including two first-place finishes, and another 18 awards went to the editorial staff — five of which were first-place.

Editor Adam Krebs was awarded 14 times total, including 10 individually and four total first-place finishes. Sports editor Natalie Dillon had two first place finishes to her name. Diane Albright, Lance Ray, Tai Ruegsegger and Laura Hughes combined for five awards, with Albright taking home two more individually.

First place awards included:

●  Best Ad Idea (Series), FFA Week: Diane Albright, Lance Ray, Tai Ruegsegger, Laura Hughes

●  Best Niche Product, SOURCE: Diane Albright, Lance Ray, Tai Ruegsegger, Laura Hughes

●  Best Special Section (Editorial), Monroe Football 2022 Keepsake: Adam Krebs, Natalie Dillon, Jaimie Tran

●  Best Video, Monroe Football 2022 Season Recap: Natalie Dillon

●  General News Photo, “Finally at home, finally at peace”: Adam Krebs

●  Localized National Story, “No home for returning to”: Adam Krebs

●  Sports News Story, Monroe Football 2022 season series: Adam Krebs

Monroe football’s run to the WIAA Division 3 state championship in November 2022 played a key role in several Monroe Times awards, with three first-place entries and several second, third and honorable mention awards given out.

Adam Krebs’ initial story on how former Monroe High School foreign exchange student Anastasia Yacoub lost her Gaza home in a bombing in May 2023 earned a first-place nod. Krebs also earned a first-place nod for a photo taken during the re-burial of World War II seaman David Joseph Riley during Memorial Day weekend in 2023.