Next week, we, along with hundreds of community newspapers nationwide, will be celebrating National Newspaper Week.

It runs from Oct. 5 through 11. The National Newspaper Association’s annual convention begins tomorrow in San Antonio. And you probably saw in last week’s edition, the Arizona Newspapers Association held its annual convention on Sept. 19 and 20 in Scottsdale.

Once again, the staff came away award winners in both the state and national competitions. Editor Mike Scharnow received second and third place awards in the best column categories. Let’s Go Editor Linda McThrall also had a third place for one of her monthly columns.

Sports reporter Ryan Winslett received two second place national awards and second and third place awards in the state competition.

The newspaper’s website earned a second place award, while the Opinion page earned a third place in the Best Editorial Page

category.

We received first place plaques for the best Public Notice Section and for Best Departmental News and Copywriting Excellence.

I want to congratulate the entire staff for their contributions in making your hometown newspaper an award winner each year.

The awards are nice but I see them as a by-product of doing the best job possible in bringing you, our readers, the news and happenings in our home town.

For example, take another look at the front page of last week’s edition. There were preview stories on upcoming special events – festivities surrounding homecoming, the annual Ballet Arizona performance at Fountain Park, the Oktoberfest celebration and the celebration of the 13th birthday of the Community Center this past Monday.

The main story on Page 1A was about the Town and the Sheriff’s Office cooperating in a national program to dispose of unwanted or expired prescription drugs. They held a ‘Take Back” day on Saturday and also installed a “drop box” inside Town Hall that can be used on an ongoing basis by the public throughout the year.

There was another story about the town council wanting to designate a name for the Avenue of the Fountains median that is being renovated. Public input will be sought in finding a designated name.

The newspaper in all of those stories was doing its job of informing the public and helping build a sense of community.

It’s part of what makes living in a community so special.

This sense of community is something that doesn’t just happen. It takes people who care. In our town we have people such as Jerry Miles, Debbie Skehen, Bruce and Cassie Hansen, Paul Appeldorn, Mike Scharnow, Ginny Dickey, Dr. C.T. Wright, Henry Leger, Jay Schlum Jean Linzer and Sandi Thompson, to name a few, who volunteer their time to make Fountain Hills a community. All this sense of community needs is a unifying source through which people can become informed, share ideas, offer constructive criticism and make decisions.

That is the role a community newspaper can play. This is what we do at The Times.

And that makes being a newspaperman in a community that much more special.