The Missouri Press Association recognizes a newspaper and a state lawmaker in the KXCV-KRNW listening area.
The Maryville Forum's Facebook page includes a photo of seven staff members holding the press association's top awards for small weekly newspapers. That includes winning the prestigious Gold Cup and General Excellence awards.
And state representative Peggy McGaugh, whose district includes Carroll, Livingston, Linn, and Ray counties, received the association's Champion Award for supporting a House Bill that reduces the length of time for the new owner of a newspaper to establish itself as a legal publication from three years to one year.
News release from state representative Peggy McGaugh's office:
State Representative Peggy McGaugh was presented the 2026 Missouri Newspaper Champion Award by the Missouri Press Association during their annual convention on September 25th.
This award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding advocacy and support for Missouri’s newspaper industry within the State Capitol. Speaker of the House Jon Patterson was also a recipient of this award, recognizing his support for Missouri newspapers. One of McGaugh’s legislative priorities has been protecting the role of local newspapers in their ability to serve their communities.
That work ultimately became law through House Bill 1940, which changes the length of time for a successor newspaper to establish itself as a legal publication. This bill reduces the time period of regular publication from three years to one year and increases the time period from 30 days to 90 days within which a successor newspaper must begin publication. The one-year publication requirement is already a standard in several other states, making this change a practical step toward bringing Missouri in line with the surrounding region.
Another provision in the bill addressed bond elections. Working through negotiations with the Missouri State Auditor’s Office and the Missouri Bar Association, Rep. McGaugh helped address an issue involving the legal notices for bond elections. As a result, if an election contest is not filed within 30 days after the official announcement of the election result, all conditions of state election law will be deemed to have been complied with in the issuance of the bond. The changes give election authorities additional flexibility in how election notices are delivered, by allowing them to be sent by mail and permitting election authorities to mail legal notices to voters while still publishing the notice in a newspaper. The legislation also adjusted the publication timeline for election notices, requiring both notices to be published within six weeks prior to an election.
The candidate filing provision similarly moved the filing period for certain local offices and addressed situations when the final filing date falls on a state or federal holiday.
“Changing the time period for publication of legal notices helps governmental agencies that oftentimes were required to go outside their jurisdiction to meet advertisement requirements in public notices as well as bond elections,” said Rep. McGaugh. “It was my pleasure to work with the Missouri Press Association in getting this done for the Missouri newspapers.”
