Door County Advocate wins seven national awards Christine Nesheim's prizewinning photograph depicted a man washing a child's face while standing in water just off a beach closed because of pollution, last summer. For The News-Chronicle Strong environmental coverage along with top-notch photography paved the way to seven national awards - the most in any single year - for the Door County Advocate in Sturgeon Bay. The annual Better Newspaper Contest awards were announced this week by the National Newspaper Association. NNA will present the awards formally during its annual convention in Kansas City, Mo., Sept. 24-27. Earning first-place awards in the NNA's highest-circulation, non-daily division were photographer Christine Nesheim and reporter Debra Fitzgerald. Second-place awards went to Fitzgerald and Sports Editor Korey Mallien, while honorable mentions went to Fitzgerald, former Advocate reporter Jessica LaPlante and correspondent Donna Marie Pocius. Nesheim took first place for breaking news with a photograph illustrating an outbreak of pollution that closed a number of Door County beaches last summer. The photo published Aug. 2, depicted a man washing a child's face while standing in water off shore from a large sign that informed people that the beach was closed because of the polluted water. Fitzgerald took a first in environmental writing for her Oct. 1 article, "Paradise is still fighting the poison," which described how Door County continued its quest for clean water some 30 years after major problems were revealed about sewage treatment and waste disposal. She took second place in the agricultural category for an article about Door County innovators who are bringing grapes to the county. The article, published in the This Week section and distributed throughout Northeast Wisconsin, described the investors' efforts to grow grapes to replace cherries as an agricultural staple, thereby creating a new economic stronghold in the production of wine. Fitzgerald also earned an honorable mention for her story about a literacy fair held for educators and reading specialists in Door County. Mallien earned a second place for his description of the Greisen brothers - Chris and Nick - and how the Sturgeon Bay boys competed through their childhood before earning careers in the National Football League. Pocius earned an honorable mention in business writing for an article describing how local health-care providers are coping with a shortage of nurses. La Plante earned honorable mention for an article on how PCB removal in the Fox River Valley was affecting Door County. La Plante was a general assignment reporter and feature writer with the Advocate from 2001 to 2002. La Plante, 24, wrote her first news story, an article on a legal dispute at Red Banks, six years ago. In addition to her other assignments, La Plante covered stock car racing in Door County. She currently is a general assignment reporter with primary responsibility for court coverage with The Green Bay News-Chronicle. The Advocate's parent company is Brown County Publishing Co., which publishes The News-Chronicle and weekly newspapers in Algoma, De Pere, Denmark, Kewaunee, Luxemburg and Oconto.