Free Lance wins 7 awards in state newspaper contest

The Free Lance won a total of seven awards in the 2015 California Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspapers Contest.
The Hollister-based newspaper competed in a category with weekly newspapers ranging in circulation from 11,001 to 25,000.
Among the first or second-place awards announced over the weekend:
Sports Editor Emanuel Lee won first place in sports coverage. Photographer Nick Lovejoy won two second-place awards, one for best sports feature photo and another for best sports action photo. Editor Kollin Kosmicki won second place for columns. 
Additionally, the Free Lance received blue-ribbon finalist notifications—indicating a third or fourth-place finish—in three categories: Reporter Katie Helland won in agriculture reporting for a story on the local beekeeping industry. Lee won for a sports feature on a local man who trains elite athletes from his garage. And the Free Lance staff won for Lifestyles coverage.
See links to the winning stories and photos at left. For the full list of winners, go here.