Weekly editors give Minnesota's Reed Anfinson top award; Oregon's Bagwell has top editorial; 11 other writers honored

Reed Anfinson

Reed Anfinson, a longtime leader in rural journalism and community newspapers, won the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors' top prize, the Eugene Cervi Award, at the group's annual conference in Reno, Nevada, Saturday night.

Steve Bagwell of The News-Register in McMinnville, Oregon, won ISWNE's Golden Quill for editorial writing; he and 11 other weekly editors were in the group's Golden Dozen for editorials. Those are detailed on The Rural Blog tomorrow.

The Cervi Award, named for the crusading editor of the old Rocky Mountain Journal, recognizes an editor who consistently acts with the conviction that “good journalism begets good government,” with consistently aggressive reporting of local government, and has had a career of outstanding public service through community journalism that adhered to the highest standards of the craft, with the deep reverence for the English language that was the hallmark of Cervi’s writing.

Anfinson is co-owner of the Swift County Monitor-News in Benson, Minn., The Stevens County Times in Morris, Minn.; and the Grant County Herald in Elbow Lake, Minn., and partner in a printing plant. After graduation from the University of Minnesota, he worked for the Minnesota House and a congressional campaign, returning to Benson as Monitor-News editor in 1978. In 1996, he bought his brother's half-interest and became sole owner. He and his wife, Shelly, purchased the Grant County Herald in 2014 and the Stevens County Times in 2019. He  served as president of the Minnesota Newspaper Association and the National Newspaper Association, the main lobby for rural newspapers, and is again on the NNA board. He won NNA's 2019 James O. Amos Award for a career of distinguished service and leadership to the community press and the newspaper’s community, the 2003 Al McIntosh Distinguished Service to Journalism Award, MPA's highest honor; and First Amendment awards from the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information and St. Cloud State University. He was vice president of the old Minnesota News Council and is research chair of the Minnesota Center for Rural Policy and Development, which does research on the challenges of rural Minnesota. He has served on local economic-development groups and continues to cover city, county, school and hospital meetings, as well as laying out pages and writing columns.

Anfinson was nominated by MPA Executive Director Lisa Hills, who wrote, "Reed exemplifies the best in journalism and serves as an inspiration to others. . . . He is recognized as a respected expert and spokesman for community journalism, often appearing on public television or being interviewed by reporters for stories regarding community newspapers [but] his main focus has always been, covering and informing readers about their local government bodies and community."

Former NNA president Robert Williams seconded: "Reed’s valor in standing up to the money and power that controls many small towns proves his commitment to the values so many journalists, like Eugene Cervi, stood for. I know of no other editor who better deserves an award representing the worthwhile goals Mr. Cervi sought to achieve. Our nation would be in far better shape if every community could be so fortunate to have an editor with the wisdom, vision and ideals Reed Anfinson demonstrates through his newspaper every week."

Benson Mayor Jack Evenson wrote that Anfinson "upholds journalistic excellence" and "strives to ensure that this area engages in fact-based, researched debate rather than what is popular or learned through hearsay. . . . The effort he puts into every issue is evidenced through the sheer number of stories and their high quality when compared to other small-town papers."

Anfinson clearly has done a good job of helping local officials understand the role of a community paper. He recalls how longtime city manager Rob Wolfington, now retired, concluded a list of introductions at a City Council meeting, looking across four rows of empty chairs at him and saying, "And the newspaper, representing the people of Benson."