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Rick Holtz (left) and Beth Sparrow were recognized over the weekend at the Nebraska Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest awards ceremony. The PCN team received awards for the sports pages and website and Holtz won for sports coverage. PCN photo by Kimberly Holtz
LINCOLN — The Polk County News won multiple awards over the weekend in this year’s Nebraska Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
The PCN staff won a first place award for sports page for division C and first place award for the PCN website, www.polkcountynews.net, for divisions C and D. PCN co-owners Rick Holtz and Beth Sparrow were on hand at the awards ceremony.
“It’s always an honor to be recognized by our peers for our hard work,” Holtz said. “The PCN staff works hard to bring you the very best local news and sports coverage every week. Our website is there for readers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Holtz also received a second place award in sports game coverage for division C. His entry was for the High Plains football game that was played hours after a fatal car accident took the life of a Polk County man who was connected to members of the Storm football team. The PCN staff also finished second overall in the Digital Sweepstakes.
The NPA Better Newspaper Contest is an annual event and Nebraska newspapers compete against each other in advertising, news, sports and digital categories. PCN competes in division C, which is comprised of 45 newspapers around Nebraska with a circulation between 1,000 and 1,899.
Alan and Beth Sparrow purchased the Polk County News in June of 2022. Holtz joined the staff in May of 2022 and he — along with his wife, Kimberly — joined the ownership group earlier this year.
