Among the eight Oklahoma newspapers that received top honors in the Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest was The Purcell Register.

The Sequoyah Awards were presented at the Annual Convention last Saturday night at the Grand Casino Hotel and Resort in Shawnee.

The Sequoyah Award, which is the highest honor in the Better Newspaper Contest, is determined by the number of points accumulated in eight of the contest’s categories including news content, layout & design, advertising, editorial writing, photography, sports coverage, sales promotion and community leadership.

The eight divisions are based on publication frequency and the city or town’s population.

The Register won division five representing towns ranging in population from 6,000 to 20,000.

It was The Register’s 11th Sequoyah Award and 10th in the last 14 years.

The Register won first place in news content and community leadership.

The newspaper was third in editorial writing and photography.

“These awards are a reflection of the work and effort of our entire staff at The Register,” publisher John D. Montgomery said.

“I am proud of each of themfor the work they do for the entire Heart of Oklahoma,” he confirmed.

The staff and their positions are listed on page 4A of each issue.

Other winners of the Sequoyah Awards were Enid News & Eagle, McAlester News-Capital, Choctaw Times, Midwest City Beacon, McIntosh County Democrat, The Keystone Gusher and Minco-Union City Times. The Cameron University Collegian was the winner in the college news media division.

Also announced during the two-day convention were the recipients of the OPA H. Milt Phillips Award and the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation’s Beachy Musselman Award.

Receiving the H. Milt Phillips Award was Russell M. Perry, publisher of The Black Chronicle in Oklahoma City.

The OPA Board of Directors selects the recipient of the Milt Phillips Award, the association’s highest individual honor.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2009.

Receiving the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation’s Beachy Musselman Award was Corey Jones, public service journalism reporter at The Tulsa World.

The recipient of the Musselman Award is selected by the ONF Board of Trustees.

Individuals were able to receive awards in 16 categories – news story, feature story, sports story, business story, education story, in-depth reporting, column writing, small space ad, large space ad, news photograph, feature photograph, sports photograph, photo essay/picture page, front page design, video journalism or marketing and online project.

Members of the Mississippi Press Association judged the almost 1,400 entries from 71 Oklahoma news publications.