Sikeston newspaper seeks unsung heroes for new 'Making A Difference' magazine

SIKESTON — The Standard Democrat and their sponsors are searching for community members who are making a significant impact by bettering the lives of others.

DeAnna Nelson, general manager of the Standard Democrat, said the Sikeston-based newspaper is now accepting nominations of individuals who are going above and beyond to improve the community and deserve recognition.

“We are looking for people that make a difference,” Nelson said. “Someone that volunteers or donates their time and resources to help someone else better their lives, yet not looking for notoriety. We want people that do it out of the kindness of their hearts, true servants.”

Nelson said the nominees do not have to be someone who volunteers for huge projects but even someone who does small acts of kindness are important.

“We are asking our readers and local community members to nominate someone they know that would fill this description,” Nelson said. “We will have to narrow it down so our reporters can contact the nominees in a timely manner for interviews.”

The Standard Democrat will then feature some of these individuals in its new publication, “Making A Difference” magazine.

According to Nelson, the magazine is a spin-off idea from their sister newspapers, “Difference Makers Banquet,” which was started a few years ago.

“We have had great success recently with our glossy magazines so we decided to start celebrating our volunteers in print with our beautiful color magazines,” Nelson said.

Nomination forms can be found on the Standard Democrat’s website: www.standard-democrat.com to download and print, or stop by the Standard Democrat’s office from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at 205 S. New Madrid St. in Sikeston to pick up a form.

There is no cost to nominate anyone, and Nelson said individuals can nominate as many people as they would like. Nominations must be received by 10 p.m. Feb. 20.

For the magazine, Nelson said they are looking for those who have had any kind of positive impact.

“We want lots of stories of all kinds about all ages,” Nelson said.

According to Nelson, the hope is for the community to be reminded of the great people who live in the area.

“With the things going on in the world, there are so many people just down on everything; we want to uplift our neighbors and put smiles back on their faces,” Nelson said.

Nelson said “as the community newspaper, it is the Standard Democrat’s job to bring the good, bad and ugly, but we really want to concentrate on the good with this project.”

“As a final note, I want to just add that our reporters and employees work hard every day to put out a great product of local news and advertising,” Nelson said. “We rely on our advertisers and subscribers to keep helping us do this. For without our local ties in advertising and subscribers (print and online), we wouldn't be able to. So many people think that news is free, but in truth it's not. We have to stay up to date and evolve with the times.

Nelson continued: “Just this month we rolled out a new website. In my opinion, it's great. Easy to read, follow, log in with no passwords to remember. If you haven't already been to it, go check it out at www.standard-democrat.com. You can subscribe right there for only $8 a month and have access 24/7 to all the up-to-date news and stories our great reporters work hard to bring you.”