Two members of The Messenger staff received top honors during the Iowa Newspaper Association convention held Thursday.

Terry Christensen, the publisher of The Messenger as well as The Daily Freeman Journal in Webster City and The Times-Republican in Marshalltown, received the Master Editor-Publisher Award.

Reporter Kelby Winger received the Jay P. Wagner Prize for Young Journalists.

The awards were presented Thursday during the association’s convention in Des Moines.

Christensen has been the publisher of the newspapers in Fort Dodge and Webster City since October 2017. He recently assumed leadership of the Marshalltown paper.

He had previously served as the general manager of The Daily Freeman-Journal since 2010.

He began his area newspaper career by serving as advertising director of The Messenger from 2004 to 2007.

Christensen has previously worked at the Daily Times Herald in Carroll, the Lincoln Journal Star in Lincoln, Nebraska; and the Omaha World Herald in Omaha, Nebraska.

Wingert joined the staff of The Messenger in 2019. She is a graduate of Iowa State University and Fort Dodge Senior High School. Before joining The Messenger, she was a reporter for a newspaper at Fort Hood, Texas.

She covers a wide range of new and feature stories for the Fort Dodge paper. She also serves as the expanded media coverage coordinator, serving as a go-between for the court system and journalists.

The Iowa Newspaper Association is a group of about 300 daily and weekly papers.