Battle Born Media - The Mineral County Independent-News earned the general excellence award for top community paper in Nevada at the Nevada Press Association awards in Mesquite on Saturday night. MCIN general manager Eric Dahlberg accepted the award on behalf of him and editor/manager Heidi Bunch.

Battle Born Media – The Mineral County Independent-News earned the general excellence award for top community paper in Nevada at the Nevada Press Association awards in Mesquite on Saturday night. MCIN general manager Eric Dahlberg accepted the award on behalf of him and editor/manager Heidi Bunch.

The Mineral County Independent-News has been honored in the annual Nevada Press Association contest as the best community newspaper in the state.

The paper received the coveted general excellence award at the annual NPA banquet Saturday in Mesquite.

Judges cited the newspaper’s coverage of both hard news and community oriented news, along with its sleek design and photo work.

“Excellent use of art to drive readers to the stories,’’ the judges said. “Depth given to stories that warrant, mixed with shorter stories of community interest.’’

General manager Eric Dahlberg accepted the award on behalf of himself, the paper, and editor/manager Heidi Bunch.

“We’re proud to be selected as the top community paper in Nevada in competition among a number of other papers in rural communities,’’ Dahlberg said. “With Heidi leading the team in Hawthorne we keep improving on what was already a good newspaper. We hope the residents of Hawthorne are as happy with the paper as the judges are.’’

The Independent -News also won first place for a photo display of images taken by John Byrne and designed by Eric Dahlberg. The images were from the state basketball tournament, and judges said they “really capture the emotions of the tournament. Good choices, well executed pages.’’

The paper also won second place for the Armed Forces Day photo package, and second place for coverage of the tornado that hit Hawthorne.

The Independent-News is owned and operated by longtime Nevadans as part of the Battle Born Media chain. Battle Born also publishes the Mesquite Local News, Sparks Tribune, Eureka Sentinel, Ely Times and Lincoln County Record.