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	Judges' Comments
	"The pages show a diversity of design skills with clear layering of information and understanding of what readers need to know. There are many entry points working together to create a clear reading hierarchy."

Good design is all in the details for the Longview News-Journal’s Randy Ferguson. And he believes that was part of the formula for a winning front page.

An 18th anniversary approached for a famous local murder case. It has never been solved. The paper was granted an exclusive jailhouse interview with a longtime suspect, who was jailed on another charge. In addition, the News-Journal interviewed a sister of one of the victims.

In order for the page to succeed, Ferguson had to find a way to mirror the emotion that filled the interviews.

"You have to seize the opportunity when it presents itself," Ferguson said. "I wanted to get it right."

The best photos came from the suspect’s interview.

"My editors didn’t want to play the suspect’s story over the story dealing with how a family member has coped after almost two decades of waiting," Ferguson said.

Eventually, Ferguson decided to give equal play to the photos of the suspect and the victim’s sister, side by side.

"When I came up with that approach, everything else just fell into place," he said.

It made for a powerful page that won a Best of Cox award.

"Except for a few details that I wish I could go back and fix, I was really pleased with it," he said.

Ferguson is a Longview native and a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, where he majored in journalism and English.

He was a Cox Scholarship intern at the News-Journal before joining the staff full-time in 1998 after graduation. He worked as a news designer for the San Antonio Express News in 2000-2001 before rejoining the News-Journal.

He also won first place this year in news page design and received the prestigious sweepstakes award, both in the News-Journal’s division in the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors competition.