By WILL DAVIS
The Monroe County Reporter
April 27, 2011
TEAM EFFORT: The Reporter and Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce teamed up for the 2010 Welcome Home magazine and chamber director, which won first place among Special Sections in the Georgia Press Association’s annual advertising contest. Above, from left, are Gini Seitz, Carolyn Martel, Amy Haisten, Tiffany Andrews and Will Davis. All are Reporter staffers except Andrews, who is the president of the chamber. (Photo/Karen Manus-Pennings)
A new magazine produced by The Monroe County Reporter and Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce last year won a top award in the Georgia Press Association’s annual advertising contest earlier this month.
Welcome Home, which debuted last summer as a full-color 96-page magazine for newcomers to Monroe County, took first place in the special section category of the annual contest. The award was presented at the association’s annual advertising meeting at Lake Blackshear in Cordele on April 18.
The magazine was inserted into the newspaper and distributed at stores, restaurants and waiting rooms around Middle Georgia.
Reporter publisher Will Davis said for the magazine to take first place in its first year is an amazing feat, especially considering it’s the first slick magazine the newspaper has ever produced. He credited the Reporter staff, the chamber of commerce and magazine’s advertisers for working together to produce such an attractive magazine.
In past years, the chamber produced its magazine using an out-of-town company that charged high rates for advertising and whose magazine usually only contained about 36 pages.
Davis noted that by teaming up with the Reporter, which is also a local business and chamber member, the chamber now has a newcomers guide that local businesses can afford to advertise in in a magazine that’s three times the size of previous editions.
The Reporter and chamber have already begun work on the 2011 Welcome Home newcomers magazine and chamber directory, due for release this summer.
Also published on Amy Haisten and Fancy Turtle Media.
