Lincoln, Neb.
Award of Excellence
News Design/Page, A-Section, 49,999 and under
Design Chief: Quentin Lueninghoener

I'd like to say my 2004 election cover was planned a week in advance and was the final product of a well-organization plan for election coverage. But to be honest, I showed up an hour early for work and put the page together on the fly. Like a lot of other papers, we waited until the last moment to choose the main photo and I was lucky enough to be able to wrap everything else around it cleanly. I think election night is great for color photos because everything is going to be red and blue – that helped add a sense of harmony to a page that otherwise could be awfully incongruous. – Quentin Lueninghoener