The Post-Star in Glens Falls, NY, Gets Top Lee Enterprises Honor

The Post-Star in Glens Falls, NY, has been selected from among the 56 daily newspapers and more than 300 other publications of Lee Enterprises (NYSE:LEE) as 2007 Enterprise of the Year. The award was announced Tuesday night by Mary Junck, president, chairman and chief executive officer, at Lee's annual President’s Awards ceremony honoring excellence in news, innovation and spirit. "The Post-Star set a high standard this year for driving revenue, delivering strong local news, accelerating online innovation and continuing to build on its powerful audience and leadership in the region,” Junck said. "Publisher Rona Rahlf and her team have extended The Post-Star’s reputation for award-winning news coverage with compelling multimedia presentations at www.poststar.com, enabling a more than doubling of online advertising revenue growth. At the same time, they engineered strong ad revenue growth in all other key categories, including local, real estate, auto, employment, preprint and niche.” She noted that The Post-Star’s advertising director, Jim Murphy, was honored by Suburban Newspapers of America as ad director of the year and that reporter Maury Thompson was the winner of the 2007 Lee Spirit Award. Other finalists for Enterprise of the Year were: The Casper Star-Tribune in Casper, WY, which received the Lee Enterprise of the Year award in 2005. The Star-Tribune was also honored Tuesday night with two President’s Awards – one for excellence in news and one, along with its weekly newspaper, the Casper Journal, for innovation. The publisher of the Star-Tribune is Nathan Bekke. Its online site is www.trib.com. The Sioux City Journal in Sioux City, IA, one of five Lee daily newspapers in Iowa. Among many achievements in 2007, it has been a standout in online innovation and revenue growth. The publisher is Ron Peterson. The online site is www.siouxcityjournal.com. The Herald & Review in Decatur, IL, also a previous winner of Lee’s top award. The Herald & Review received the Enterprise of the Year prize in 2004. The entire staff received the Lee Spirit Award in 2000. The publisher is Todd Nelson. The online site is www.herald-review.com. Also honored Tuesday night was John VanStrydonck, vice president for publishing and publisher of the Missoulian in Missoula, MT, who has retired after 26 years in Lee. Details and photos of Lee President’s Awards winners are available at www.lee.net. Lee Enterprises is a premier publisher of local news, information and advertising in primarily midsize markets, with 51 daily newspapers and a joint interest in five others, rapidly growing online sites and more than 300 weekly newspapers and specialty publications in 23 states. Lee’s newspapers have circulation of 1.6 million daily and 1.9 million Sunday, reaching more than four million readers daily. Lee’s online sites attract more than 11 million unique visitors monthly, and Lee’s weekly publications have distribution of more than 4.5 million households. Lee’s newspaper markets include St. Louis, Mo.; Lincoln, Neb.; Madison, Wis.; Davenport, Iowa; Billings, Mont.; Bloomington, Ill.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Napa, Calif. Lee stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE.