It was around a year ago that I was shocked a couple of times.

Maybe you remember reading about it. It was in all the papers. Well, I guess it was just in one newspaper, this one, the Faribault County Register.

I was shocked when some former Blue Earth Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award recipients were at a Blue Earth Kiwanis Club meeting to announce I was the newest recipient of that prestigious award. I was sure they had the wrong person. They sure seemed to be having fun shocking me.

I must admit I had fun and enjoyed doing the same thing to this year’s recipient, Mike McNerney, at a City Council meeting. But I digress.

The other shock was the same week when I found out I received the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s award for 50 years to the newspaper industry. And my family surprised me by being there. That award, of course, you can attain by just lasting 50 years in this business.

This year, thankfully, I am not being shocked by some surprising personal awards. This year it is the entire staff at the Faribault County Register who are receiving some awards, and again, it is all in the same week.

On Monday the Register and its staff will be honored as the Business of the Year by the Blue Earth Chamber of Commerce at the annual Chamber Gala. I can hardly describe how honored we are to receive this recognition.

I have to admit it was just a little strange to write a story about the Register receiving the award, after years of writing about other businesses getting the recognition. Our job is mainly to write about others, so it is always a little different to write about ourselves.

Different, and humbling.

There is no doubt about it, though, the staff at the Register deserves to be recognized. They are a hardworking and dedicated group. And this next week they will receive a few more honors and recognition.

On Thursday, the staff will receive seven awards from the Minnesota Newspaper Association at their annual awards banquet. Last year we also received seven awards. It is nice because all the staff can share in the awards.

We don’t know specifically what the awards are for, or if they are first or second place.

Doesn’t matter. It is always nice to be recognized for our efforts. But to be truly honest, we don’t do what we do just to win awards. We do it because we love to put out the best newspaper we can.

And you know what else?

Hearing a lot of comments from all of our readers means just as much to all of us. And lately we have been hearing quite a few nice compliments about the Register, from a variety of folks from both near and far.

To be fair, we do get a few critical comments from time to time. That is just part of any business, I think. And with a newspaper, well, there are times we have to print things that are going to get some people upset.

Still, it is nice for everyone to be thanked once in a while for what they do.

The awards are great, look nice on the wall, and make us feel like we are doing something right. But that little comment of “Hey, you guys put out a nice paper,” just feels a little bit better, and makes all this hard work worthwhile.

And, of course, none of this would be possible without all of our loyal readers, subscribers and advertisers.

I am not sure what number convention this will be for me this year, but it is a lot.

My first one was back in about 1971, and I did miss a few when I was a publisher/editor of a small town weekly in North Dakota.

But, from about 1977 on, I rarely, if ever, missed an MNA Annual Convention. Of course, there was that recent year when I had COVID … but that was unavoidable.

The Minnesota newspaper convention has always been touted as one of the best of any state newspaper convention. They have many great seminars and speakers, each and every year. Sometimes there are several really good ones going on at the same time.

Of course, there is also a lot of socializing going on as well. It is always a good time catching up with old friends in newspaper business, some of whom I have known for many years.

And then there is always the opportunity to make some new acquaintances.

I don’t think there has ever been an MNA Convention where I did not meet some new people, hear some very interesting speakers, and learn a thing or two.

I guess you can teach an old dog a new trick or two.

One thing is for sure, it is going to be one interesting and fun week this week. I hope it is for you, too.

Thanks for reading us.