HOT PURSUIT

Last week a special package arrived at the office. It certainly piqued my curiosity since it wasn’t the holiday season or any other special observance.

As I tore into the wrapping, I quickly uncovered a beautifully framed keepsake highlighting our recent achievement of being named Minnesota’s best weekly newspaper. It read: “From our company to yours… congratulations on this exciting achievement. Federated Insurance.”

Also included with the special gift was a letter from Federated’s Nick Lower, who is chairman, president and CEO. He wrote, “The quality of reporting and professionalism found in your publication is a true asset to our community. I commend every member of your team for their outstanding work and passion for sharing the stories that impact our local citizens and their families the most.”

For those who attended this past weekend’s KOWZ Home & Rec Show in Owatonna, we hope you had the chance to see Federated’s commemorative gift along with the Mills Trophy at our booth. We will also display these items at the Steele County Free Fair this year. We want community members to embrace this statewide recognition because they allow us to make it all happen.

Winning a top journalism award obviously signifies exceptional journalistic achievement, but it also elevates our reputation in the community, our credibility with readers and quite honestly, it drives us to do even better and provide further impactful work.

While Federated’s has certainly been one of the nicest gestures we have received since winning the award, we have been humbled with many other accolades. We have received many wonderful comments in various ways from readers, business owners and others congratulating us on our success. A special thank you to Federated and everyone else who has reached out to us.

As I told Lower last week, this honor is the people’s award and reflective of the greater community we cover. It’s our privilege to cover Steele County and the communities that make it up. Our readers and advertisers make it possible for us to provide exceptional community journalism. We are the keeper of a community jewel that binds us together through good times and sometimes not so good times.

Federated will have some exciting news once again in a couple weeks after its annual policyholder meeting. And, of course, the Federated Challenge is coming up in a few months. We’ll they break the record $4.5 million challenge again this year? We’ll find out at the end of July. We love to share great news like this with our readers.

But it doesn’t have to just be a giant like Federated to get coverage in our newspaper. We’re always looking to share news about any organization, business and group within our communities. We encourage people to reach out with ideas for stories and provide us with information. We’re only as good as the information provided to us.

It’s great to know the community regards us as a true asset. It provides us with the motivation to go in hot pursuit of doing even better work.