February 19, 2009 Issue
High Country Press Receives N.C. Press Award for Design
Pictured from left: Michelle Bailey, Courtney Cooper, Tim Salt and Patrick Pitzer
High Country Press was recently recognized for its appearance and design by the North Carolina Press Association. The NCPA honored the winners of the 2008 News, Editorial & Photojournalism Contest on Thursday, February 12, at the Embassy Suites in Cary.
NCPA judges awarded High Country Press second place for appearance and design in the C division, which includes community newspapers with circulations greater than 10,000. In their comments, the judges praised High Country Press for its “very readable font and typeface choices.”
Graphic artists Michelle Bailey, Courtney Cooper and Tim Salt are veteran members of the High Country Press, while graphic artist Patrick Pitzer recently joined the design team.
Bailey is from Raleigh and graduated with a degree in communications at Lees-McRae College. She lives in Sugar Mountain and enjoys spending time with her boyfriend Chris and her dog, Balou. Cooper hails from Saluda and earned a graphic arts degree from Appalachian State University. She’s the newspaper’s resident pop culture authority and dreams of one day becoming a professional tennis spectator. Salt is an ASU grad with degrees in studio sculpture and graphic design. Originally from Dartford, England, Salt is the bass player in popular Brazilian jazz band Banana da Terra and has spent much of the last year renovating a house from the ground up with his wife, Leanne.
Bailey, who works a lot with the paper’s advertisers, said she enjoys working with clients to design sharp-looking ads. Depending on how much freedom they give her, she said, she can go pretty simple or “go crazy” with her designs. Salt said he tends to go “simple and sleek” with his work, often employing bold images in his layouts.
“The newspaper holds a lot of information, so it’s important to organize and keep things simple,” Cooper said. “We have the reader’s interest in mind when we lay out the paper.”
The graphic artists believe that High Country Press is reader-friendly and “easy on the eyes.”
The artists said they also want to thank Jamie Goodman, a former graphic artist at High Country Press who contributed to the award-winning issues and who helped shape the look of the paper.
“I’m really proud that we turned in two good issues, but I think we make great papers every week,” Cooper said.
High Country Press Publisher Ken Ketchie said, “Being recognized as the second best looking publication in the state in our division is quite an honor. I hope it shows our readers how hard we are working here to bring them a first class publication.
“Our whole staff puts their heart into this paper, and we’re proud of this accomplishment,” Ketchie said.
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