2025 Osman C. Hooper Non-Daily Newspaper Competition
The winners of the 2025 Osman C. Hooper Non-Daily Newspaper Competition were announced on April 3, 2025, at the ONMA's annual Ohio Newspaper Fellowship Day. Newspapers that publish 3 or fewer days a week in print and don't publish original digital editions on their non-print days are considered non-daily papers and eligible to enter the Hooper contest. In addition, any of these papers' staff and freelancers are also eligible to enter, as long as their original contest is first published in that paper.
If you have questions, contact ONMA's Jason Sanford at 614-486-6677, ext. 1014, or jsanford@ohionews.org.
2025 Winners
OVERALL WINNERS
This year’s overall Hooper Award winners are:
DIVISION A
1st Place: The Gazette
2nd Place: Geauga County Maple Leaf
DIVISION B
1st Place: Yellow Springs News
2nd Place: Archbold Buckeye
2024 Winners
DIVISION A
Winner: The Gazette
Runner-Up: Geauga County Maple Leaf
DIVISION B
Winner: The Telegram
Runner-Up: News Democrat
DIVISION C
Winner: The Yellow Springs News
Runner-Up: Archbold Buckeye
2023 Winners
2023 Overall Winners
- DIVISION A: The Gazette
- DIVISION B The Telegram
- DIVISION C The Archbold Buckeye
About Osman C. Hooper
The contest is named after an important Ohio journalist. When the Ohio News Media Association was established in 1933 as the Ohio Newspaper Association, Osman Hooper was already a significant contributor to the organization. For many years he conducted the annual “Ohio Newspaper Show” which was held as part of the Buckeye Press Association convention in Columbus. At the turn of the century, the Buckeye Press Association, which represented weekly newspaper publishers, and the Associated Ohio Dailies were conducting separate events. ONA’s founding was the result of their merger into a single state trade association.
It was also in 1933 that Hooper published one of several books, “The History of Ohio Journalism,” which traces the beginnings of Ohio newspapers. At the 1937 ONA Convention, Hooper was presented a resolution citing “his part in the development of increasingly high standards for Ohio community papers” and his name was added to the annual weekly newspaper contest.
Hooper spent 58 years at The Columbus Dispatch, beginning as a telegraph editor in 1880. He was an editorial writer for nearly 20 years and was made literary editor in 1917. Hooper became a journalism professor at Ohio State University in 1918 and was named professor emeritus in 1932. Throughout his teaching career he continued to edit The Dispatch book page.
In 1925, Hooper established the Ohio Journalism Hall of Fame which is housed at Ohio State University and in 1939 he was inducted into the Journalism Hall of Fame. He died in 1941 at the age of 83.
Previous Year's Winners
Collegiate Newspaper & Website Competition
In 2009, The Ohio News Media Association & Ohio News Media Foundation established the annual Ohio Collegiate Newspaper and Website Competition to recognize the achievements of Ohio’s college and university newspapers.
If you have questions, contact ONMA's Jason Sanford at 614-486-6677, ext. 1014, or jsanford@ohionews.org.
2025 Winners
OVERALL WINNERS
This year’s General Excellence Award winners are:
DIVISION A
1st Place: The Jambar, Youngstown State University
2nd Place: BG Falcon Media, Bowling Green State University
DIVISION B
1st Place: The Newswire, Xavier University
2nd Place: Northern Review, Ohio Northern University
2024 Winners
This year’s General Excellence Award winners are:
DIVISION A
Winner: BG Falcon Media, Bowling Green State University
Runner-Up: The Jambar, Youngstown State University
DIVISION B
Winner: The Chimes, Capital University
Runner-Up: Cedars, Cedarville University
2023 Winners
Photos of 2023 Overall Winners
DIVISION A: The Post, Ohio University
DIVISION B: The Newswire, Xavier University
About the Competition
To be eligible, campus newspapers must be members in good standing in the collegiate membership category of ONMA. There is no entry fee for this competition because it is a member service included in the annual dues for ONMA collegiate membership.
The contest consists of:
- Ten categories in two divisions with first, second, and third-place certificates awarded for each. Division A - enrollment of 10,000 and up; Division B - under 10,000 enrollment.
- A point system for determining a general excellence winner. The top newspaper in each division receives the Frank E. Deaner General Excellence Award.
- An October entry deadline each year with awards presented the following February at the ONA Convention
Frank E. Deaner was instrumental in establishing the General Excellence Award competition, which is given to the top newspaper in each collegiate division. Frank E. Deaner was the executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association for 20 years, retiring in 2011. Frank was instrumental in establishing the collegiate competition. He is a graduate of Ohio University where, for many years, he sponsored annual scholarships awarded to journalism students..
Entries are judged by a panel of professionals from ONMA member newspapers with winners notified in January.
Previous Year's Competition Winners
Maxwell Award
Presented by The Ohio News Media Association in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the advancement of the news-media profession.
Winners
- 2009: Leonard Downie, VP of The Washington Post
- 2012: Representative Randy Gardner
- 2014: Dave Marburger
- 2016: Lou Colombo
- 2017: Frank Beeson
- 2018: Doug Oplinger
- 2019: Max Heath
The William Maxwell Award is named for the publisher and editor of The Centinel of the Northwestern Territory. Established in Cincinnati in 1793, The Centinel was the first newspaper in what would become the state of Ohio, admitted to the Union in 1803.
A soldier in the American Revolution who ventured west from New Jersey, Maxwell set up a small press in a log cabin in what is now downtown Cincinnati and published the first edition on Nov. 9, 1793, adopting the Boston spelling of “The Centinel.” Maxwell’s newspaper had local news, news from the East and from Europe, as well as a variety of advertisements from merchants and settlers.
According to one account, Maxwell’s newspaper also contained verse, “some of it breathing the spirit of the new world, articles of a serious character, and occasionally a quotation calculated to raise a smile.” The Centinel’s motto was “Open to all parties, influenced by none.”
Maxwell is also credited with printing the laws of the Northwest Territory and Ohio’s first book, titled Maxwell’s Code. He eventually sold The Centinel and moved to Greene County where he was elected to the first Ohio General Assembly in 1803. He died in 1809.
Maxwell’s courage and vision led to the advancement of newspapers that continue to inform residents every day with print and online editions in communities throughout Ohio.
Criteria
A recipient of the William Maxwell Award is chosen based on a written nomination that describes an individual’s outstanding accomplishments or contributions in at least one of the following areas:
- Defense of the First Amendment
- Championing freedom of information & the public’s right to know
- Exceptional service to the community through projects, news coverage, special features or continuous newspaper publication
- Technical innovations or improvements to a newspaper’s operations, physical facilities, products or services
- Acts of heroism in the course of publishing or delivering the newspaper to its readers
- Dedication or special care shown to employees
- Advancement of journalism principles or journalism education
Nominees may be active in the newspaper profession at any level, may be retired from the newspaper profession, or may be involved outside the newspaper profession (examples include elected officials, community leaders, teachers, and readers).
Nomination Process
Only members in good standing of The Ohio News Media Association may submit written nominations.
Nominations may be based on the most recent calendar year or may be based on examples of continued service during an extended period of time or during a newspaper career.
The annual deadline for nominations is Dec. 15. Nominations will be reviewed by the Maxwell Award Committee which includes the president of The Ohio News Media Association, members of the board of trustees, and additional at-large representatives.
Nominations are reviewed annually, but recipients are not necessarily chosen annually. Recipients are chosen according to merit as documented in the nomination materials.
The award is presented at The Ohio News Media Association Annual Convention.
