Star picks up two prestigious awards

STAR News Group has won two prestigious Community Newspapers Australia awards, one for an awareness campaign very close to the newspaper company’s heart.
The company won the Commmunity Service award for its CPR campaign, and Best Website for its online news component at this year’s Community Newspapers Australia awards ceremony held at the Sofitel in Melbourne on 21 September.
A campaign to raise awareness about the lifesaving benefits of CPR ran through its Pakenham Gazette and sister Star News Group papers in 2006.
It was sparked by the collapse of Star News Group owner and director Ian Thomas with a heart condition at the Pakenham Show in March that year.
If not for CPR applied immediately by show officials David Harrison and Harry Maas, Mr Thomas would almost certainly have died.
He has now made a full recovery.
The idea of raising CPR awareness came from his son Paul Thomas, managing director of Star News Group, and ran across most of the company’s 26 mastheads.
Star News Group also won the award for Best Website, www.starnewsgroup.com.au, accepted by operations and IT manager Calvin Osborne.
The judge said the stand-out feature of the website was its simplicity.
“It is a real example of WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get,” the judge said.
“Developing visually appealing content managed websites is a real challenge.
“It is always a struggle between content and aesthetic appeal.
“To succeed, you must engage the online reader and hold their attention.
“The Star News Group receives ticks in both of these boxes.”