Though officials had initially said symptoms were required for testing, on Saturday morning local health officials in Marfa encouraged all interested residents to get tested regardless of symptoms shown.  Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Maisie Crow took the opportunity to get tested and make a portrait of her experience in order to respect other individuals’ privacy, while still reflecting the experience of being tested for our readers. Even though Crow and others who were tested were promised results within 72 hours at most, no results have been received. Photo by Maisie Crow.

TEXAS – The Big Bend Sentinel brought home a handful of awards from the Texas Press Association convention and trade show in Denton, Texas, over the weekend, claiming titles for photography, writing and overall excellence among a division of peers.

The paper claimed first in the division for news photography with a photo by Editor-in-Chief Maisie Crow that was taken during coronavirus testing in the area.

The paper also received second-place recognition for feature photography with Crow’s work and for its news writing during 2019 to 2020 by Stephen Paulsen and Abbie Perrault.

The paper received a third-place win in feature writing by the same writing staff, as well as in sweepstakes, which sorts papers by total points awarded. Finally, the paper was named second in general excellence.

Big Bend Sentinel publisher Max Kabat was also an invited speaker at the convention, sharing “Ideas From a First-Time Newspaper Owner” about evolving the business model of local, independent journalism and how to diversify revenue streams in a changing print media landscape.