The Todd County Standard, which is owned by Ryan and Jenni Craig of Russellville, has been named the top newspaper in its class in Kentucky for the seventh straight year.
The Standard won the General Excellence award, which cements its place as the best publication in its division in the Excellence in Kentucky Newspapers competition conducted by the Kentucky Press Association. Awards were presented at the annual KPA convention in Louisville last Friday.
Editor/Publisher Ryan Craig is the nephew of a former Logan Countian and Hall of Fame journalist, the late Larry Craig. He won 16 awards, half of them first places. The newspaper took 40 awards in all, including 13 first places in the 26 categories in the small weekly class. He also shared first place awards with two staff members.
Jenni Osborne Craig is a 2001 graduate of Logan County High School who holds a degree in journalism from Western Kentucky University. She works for the paper while caring for their two young daughters, Summer and Sparrow. Many of her contributions are done online from their Russellville home. She found time to earn a first place for a news story and a third place in photography.
Another LCHS graduate, Adairville native Elizabeth Johnson, shared a first-place award with Ryan Craig for their ongoing coverage of the murder of little Amy Dye and the paper’s legal battle for access to public records. Johnson, who was editor=in-chief of the Murray State University school newspaper, interned at The Standard before graduating an accepting a full-time newspaper reporter position in Florida. She also received a second place for Best Analytical or Enterprise Story in the Elkton paper.
Also honored was former Standard sports editor Steve Everett, who has taken a number of pictures for The Logan Journal over the years. He won six awards, including a first place for Best Sports Picture and a second for Best Sports Page.
Catherine Darnell, who was well-known as “The Cat in the Hat” society page columnist for The Tennessean for several years, has moved back home to Todd County and writes columns and features for the Craigs. She won or shared a pair of first places. Darnell has credited former Todd Central English teacher Algie Ray Smith of Russellville for whetting her interest in becoming a professional writer.
Also winning awards were Tonya Grace, Jason Dossett, Melony Shemberger, Monica Massie, Megan Sisco and Sarah Craig.