For the third consecutive year, the Park Bugle newspaper has emerged a winner at the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s latest Better Newspaper Contest, capturing eight awards at the trade group’s annual convention.
For the Bugle’s small band of freelancers and regular staffers, the newspaper’s strong showing reflects the talent and esprit de corps of its team members to the community. The plethora of awards came during the Bugle’s 51st year of operation.
Here is a recap of the MNA awards for 2024-25 that were presented to the Bugle, which competed in the class of “non-multi day publications with circulation over 7,000.”
General Reporting — first place: Staff
Self-promotion or House Ad — third place: Eddie Hofmeister and Wendy Holdman
General excellence — second place: Staff
Business profile — second place (“Speedy Market turns 30,” July 2025; “Rock ‘n roll butchers a cut above the average,” Aug. 2025): Sarah CR Clark
Best use of social media — second place (Live Q & A series 2025): Laura Adrian
Arts & entertainment story — third place (“Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival connects identity with community,” Sept. 2024): Maya Betti
Columnist — second place (various): Scott Carlson
Special section — third place (various): Staff
These awards reflect our staff’s talent and dedication to produce high quality journalism for our readers.
The 2026 awards presentation took place in late January at the MNA’s latest annual convention in Brooklyn Center.
In the professional division, there were several hundred contestants vying for honors in more than 30 newspaper categories. The vast majority of those winners were from commercial newspapers with far greater resources and revenue than the Bugle.
The Bugle’s 2024-25 contest results come on the heels of the newspaper’s strong showing in 2023-24 when it captured 13 awards. Those awards included first places in general reporting, institutional advertising, sports feature and best use of social media.
The Bugle also won five awards in 2022-23.
Scott Carlson is managing editor of the Bugle.