WESTBROOK, Minnesota (STPNS) --         Thursday and Friday the Sentinel Tribune received recognition from the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest for photos taken by Tom Merchant, Sentinel Tribune editor.

    The newspaper received a first place award for News Photography for a photo taken by Tom Merchant of a CRP Burn. The judge’s comment was, loved the sillouetted  firefighter against the various shades of orange.

    The newspaper received another first place award for Portraits and  Personality for a photo taken by Tom Merchant of Robin Madson and her husky dogs. The judge’s comment was - Nice photo of a person with her animals.  I can feel the love and respect the owner  and animals have. I like the angle in  which the photo was taken - on level with the dogs, and not looking down on the subjects.



    The newspaper received a second place award in  Sports Photo taken by Tom Merchant of the Slam Dunk team at the Tim Orth Benefit in Fairfax. Judge’s comment, A great angle was taken by the photographer to get the most of this photo.

    There were about 3,800 entries in the contest in about 60 categories. Other area newspapers winning awards were, Worthington Globe, Marshall Independent, Cottonwood County Citizen, Mountain Lake Observer Advocate, and Tracy Headlight Hearald.