THE Loddon Herald has received major accolades in the 2024 Rural Press Club of Victoria awards for sharing your local stories.
The awards were entered by 68 media outlets from across Victoria with newspaper editors, journalists and photographers attending Friday’s dinner at Bendigo Town Hall.
The Loddon Herald was awarded the best sports story for it special report into a season of fizzle for summer sport that saw many cricket and tennis matches forfeited amid concern for the future of the Upper Loddon Cricket Association.
The articles looked at increasing demands of football impacting commitment of players to summer sports and explored possible solutions to reinvigorate local competitions.
Managing editor Chris Earl, in accepting the award, said sport was the heartbeat of rural communities and the special report had set out to put a spotlight on summer sport challenges and give a voice to players looking to create a more vibrant future.
He was highly commended (runner-up) in the journalist of the year and commended in the breaking news category for reporting of the Christmas Day and summer storms across Loddon communities and community champion journalist section for articles that included child care and Calder Highway town speed limits.
For a third year, the Loddon Herald was a finalist in the prestigious media outlet of the year category. The 2024 award went to the Warrnambool Standard with the Ballarat Courier highly commended and the Loddon Herald commended.
Mr Earl said: “The sharing of local stories every week is the greatest award for the Loddon Herald and it is thanks to the greatest resource we have - the people in our communities.
“In this year’s Rural Press Club of Victoria awards, we were finalists in five categories - the most of any media outlet - that says something about our communities and their stories that we have the honour to print,” he said.