Sun Advocate web page captures first place in company, Utah Press Association contests

By Sun Advocate

The Sun Advocate’s web page has been recognized by the newspaper’s parent company and the Utah Press Association.
Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Brehm Communications conducts an annual contest for the company’s 51 newspapers.
When the judging process was completed, the Sun Advocate captured the top award for the overall best and organized website in the company.
“This was a totally unexpected award,” commented Ken Larson, the newspaper’s publisher.
Brehm Communications presented the company-wide web page award based on evaluations prepared by an Internet expert in Florida, Ron Stewart.
“I thought the Sun Advocate’s designer put a lot of thought into a site that is consistent in its look and organization,” said Stewart. “It has the elements I was looking for: consistent design, fresh news in the middle frame, feature buttons to the left and info items on the right. Each page had a similar look and was, therefore, easy to navigate. If neat and tidy were the designers goals, I suppose he made it happen.”
In addition to garnering the company’s top honor, Larson accepted UPA’s award for the best newspaper web page in the state at the association’s convention last Saturday in St. George.
Designed and maintained by Jason Bailey, the Sun Advocate web page is a result of a lot of work as well as trial and error by the newspaper’s staff. But Bailey set the site up in its current configuration.
“I look at a lot of sites that are well-organized for ideas,” explained Bailey. “Sometimes, I draw from other things I see that are out there, too. Any thing that is well-organized is of interest to me.”
The Ferron resident has been with the paper since August 2001.
“After looking around I just kind of set up what I like,” added the College of Eastern Utah freshman. “Then I get suggestions and input from everyone around me. That’s how I think a good site is developed.”
The future of the Sun Advocate website continues to remain dependent on public response and readership. Presently, the page includes news, sports, obituaries and a poll on topics pertinent to the area.
“We are really going to get going on this web page now,” indicated Larson. “There are a lot of new things we can offer and we are going to work toward that.”