By Karen Cornelius
The Vermilion Photojournal’s entries for special editions won two of the three top places at the Ohio Newspaper Association (ONA) Hooper Weekly Newspaper Awards taking place in February in Columbus, Ohio during the annual ONA Convention. Winning first place in the special editions category in its circulation division was Visit Vermilion for 2016. Winning the third spot was also the Vermilion Photojournal for its special 50th anniversary section on the Festival of the Fish.
Here’s what the judges said about Visit Vermilion: “Great content, good mix of promotional articles about local events, calendars and essays about local history. Nice, clean layout.” The judges for Festival of the Fish 2016 stated: “Good mix of current and historical information, with a clean, easy-to-navigate layout and good balance of ads to news. Front to back, a solid tab to promote a fun, local event.”
The Photojournal staff and contributors working on both special editions/sections are Karen Cornelius, Melanie Williamson, Susan Borso, Tracy Miller, graphic designer, and photographers Katy McElroy, Ingemar Svala, and Scott Dommin. All are looking forward to this year’s Visit Vermilion Tourist Guide for 2017 coming out on Memorial Day weekend just in time for all the summer events attracting residents and tourists to enjoy the city and all it offers.
It’s hard to believe, but this special magazine focusing solely on the Greater Vermilion Area will be the Photojournal’s 20th annual one. It was started two decades ago to answer questions asked by all the visitors stopping in the newspaper office — what to see, where to go, where to eat and shop, what’s available to rent, where to stay overnight, where to dock, and even where’s the lake? It just seemed simpler to publish a guide and distribute it.
Today, there are over 40,000 copies being printed and distributed across the state including all the Ohio Turnpike rest areas, Lorain and Erie County tourist centers, motels, Mid-America Boating Magazine, surrounding suburbs through the westside of Cleveland, and of course, locally.
The staff hopes this special edition is also a big benefit to Vermilion’s advertisers who can place one ad that will be seen all summer long, May through September. Those businesses and services interested in supporting the 20th annual edition filled with news and events can call Susan Borso, advertising executive, at 440-967-5268.
vermilionphotojournalonline.com 