Ego Boost

Here’s where I tell you how amazing I am.

In my year as editor of the Hays Free Press, a weekly newspaper in the Austin suburbs, our staff won numerous awards from the Texas Press Association, including first place for general excellence among the state’s medium-large weeklies. To my knowledge we had never won this award before. Our staff also took sweepstakes for the second time this century.

On the circulation side of things, average single-copy print sales increased 23.2 percent, and subscriptions held steady after years of declines. Web traffic doubled thanks to heightened social media presence and other strategic changes, as this chart shows:

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INDIVIDUAL WRITING AWARDS

Texas Press Association winners’ circle, 2012:

• Feature writing, first place (with Sean Kimmons)
• News writing, third place (also with Sean Kimmons)

National Electric Cooperative Statewide Editors Association, 2011:

• News feature, first place, for a story in Texas Co-op Power Magazine

Texas Associated Press Managing Editors awards, 2010:

• Star reporter of the year, third place
• Sports feature, first place (read the story about Chris Davis)
• Star online package of the year, second place (with Scotty Brunner for our Day Trips series)
• Business reporting, honorable mention (read the story about cattle ranching)

Texas Associated Press Managing Editors awards, 2005:

• Feature writing, second place (read the story of the Bigfoot Hunter)

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ADDITIONAL PRAISE

From a Nieman Storyboard interview with Ben Montgomery, the guy behind Gangrey:

From the 2010 Star Reporter nomination, written by my beloved former editor:

“Wes Ferguson’s abilities as a storyteller are seen throughout his Star Reporter entries. From a local baseball player trying to work his way back to the Majors to a night spent with some of the city’s homeless population, Ferguson tackles each story with a reporter’s edge and a novelist’s sense of pacing.

“His keen eye for description and his sly sense of humor are throughout his entries, as is his ability to know when to get out of the way and let his subjects set the scene and talk about themselves and their situations.”

From Jake Shaw, the managing editor of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football:

Padding the resume with 2004-05 student awards …

Investigative Reporters and Editors

• National finalist, student work

Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence, Region 8

• In-depth reporting, first place
• In-depth reporting, second place

Associated Collegiate Press

• News story, first place (national award)