Shocked. That was honestly my emotion when Louisiana Press Association (LPA) Executive Director McHugh David announced The Jena Times had won the Division 3 Newspaper of the Year at last Friday’s Better Newspapers Competition awards luncheon in Baton Rouge.

If you, dear reader, knew of the competition that this little-old newspaper in rural LaSalle Parish was going up against – you would be shocked too. We’re talking about powerhouse newspapers in our large-weekly division. Papers like the St. Tammany Farmer, who normally wins Newspaper of the Year so much that the plaque maker keeps the stamp ready each year.

In case you don’t know where St. Tammany Parish is, think Covington, Mandeville, Slidell, etc. It’s a big weekly paper that has a professional staff that produces award-winning newspapers each week.

Then there are the powerhouse weeklies produced by the Hanna family. That’s right – that “Hanna” family. Sammy Hanna is a staple in the newspaper industry and is a great leader as President of the LPA Board of Directors.

His trio of newspapers, The Ouachita Citizen, The Franklin Sun and The Concordia Sentinel, are in the same division as The Jena Times. They are great newspapers with great staff who put out “real” news each and every week. The Ouachita Citizen also has today’s most famous sportswriter in Louisiana – Jake Martin. Jake has newspaper in his blood, and his dad is also a great journalist.

Perhaps the only reason that any of these three haven’t won Newspaper of the Year is because they are continually competing against each other winning awards-after-awards, but believe me, each of these are deserving of the title.

There are other newspapers in that division that you may not know, but trust me, they are high caliber productions each week.

So, when I tell you it is a tremendous honor to win Newspaper of the Year, I’m not exaggerating at all. It is the one coveted title that all publishers seek and one that we are very grateful to have received this past weekend.

But let’s be honest. Being named Newspaper of the Year cannot be attributed to one or two people. It’s certainly not limited to owners and truth be known, this title belongs to all of our readers and advertisers. Without you, there would be no Jena Times. Just as everyone in a parish claims state championships when a high school team wins, so it is with this state title. It belongs to all of us.

I would like to use this space to thank the staff here at The Jena Times. While the Newspaper of the Year was for calendar year 2025 and was basically limited to just three people on staff putting together the newspaper, myself, Kim and our daughter Reagan Franklin Knight, during the past few months, there have been many changes in personnel and new faces at the office.

With the acquisition of three new newspapers, The Caldwell Watchman, The Richland Beacon-News and The Tensas Gazette, we have added new staff in Jena and boy did we hit the jackpot.

Working in composing, layout and design is Urania resident Melissa Stroud. Melissa brings with her a world of talent and has already made a huge difference in the production of The Jena Times and the other newspapers. Her creativity and outstanding work ethic will no doubt have her walking to the front of the press awards next year receiving many honors.

Because of our focus on the digital arena as we look toward the future, we decided to establish a new position at the Jena office, and we found the perfect person to take that seat.

Olla resident Caleb Callender came to us after working freelance in the computer AI genre. His expertise in all things digital, including websites, social media and more, has proven invaluable and he continues to demonstrate his creativity each week. Through his position as Digital Media Specialist, new websites were established for the additional newspapers and with his work, we’ve seen our digital numbers across all areas explode.

Because of the massive expansion, we also needed someone to handle the day-to-day account manager for the four newspapers. We were so thankful when longtime friend Lori Andrews accepted our offer and because of her hard work, Kimberly is able to place her attention in other needed areas.

We also employ our son, Trace Franklin, on a part-time basis, as he completes this final few months at Louisiana Tech. He has been instrumental in handling our subscriptions for all four newspapers and other needed jobs.

I also must thank those who contribute to The Jena Times each week. Not a week goes by that I don’t receive accolades from the public regarding Deborah Mayo’s feature stories and her editorials. This is one major part of community journalism – telling individual stories for all to share and enjoy. She does a great job and we are blessed to have her writing for us.

We are also thankful to have Austin Whatley of Jena who covers Jena High School sports. He works as one of our two contract sports writers and each week he keeps the parish informed of all things JHS.

The newest contract sportswriter is Olla native Word Lindsey. Although this was his first year covering sports at LaSalle High School, you would never know it by his columns. He started last fall during football season and has continued to improve each week. I can’t wait to see what he does next year, now that he has his “feet wet.”

A new face can also be seen on the sports fields as one of my high school best friends, Ronald Davis, joined the team this year on a contract basis taking pictures at sporting events. He is doing a great job and we’re proud to have him.

We also are proud to have Jamie Ogden as our distribution manager. If it wasn’t for Jamie, our papers would literally go nowhere. He keeps us on our toes and makes sure I know the pulse of the community.

While each of the members of our staff are outstanding in their own right, what I love the most about these individuals that God has assembled is their integrity, high moral values and beliefs. Each Monday morning during our office devotion and prayer time, I thank God for all of them and pray that He will bless them for their service to Him.

And really, that’s what this is all about. It’s not about praising any individual person, a company or even a newspaper. It’s about giving glory to the only one who is worthy of it all.

So, while I thank the readers, advertisers and staff, I really must thank Jesus Christ for allowing all of this to take place. Kim and I committed this newspaper to Jesus when we first started back in March of 2023, and we will continue to do so as long as we both have breath.

Newspaper of the Year. What an honor.

To God be the glory – great things He hath done.