Austin Living and the staff behind it received a great recognition last month.

The September-October 2014 edition of Austin Living magazine took third place at the Better Newspaper Contest in the Best Magazine category, which includes all daily newspapers in the state.

“These guys know how to put out a great magazine,” a judge wrote. “Very well layed out. All photography is high quality, excellent design elements used throughout.”

Obviously, everyone here at the Herald, which produces Austin Living, is thrilled with the recognition.

Now we’ve been putting out a magazine for several years, but Austin Living only formed in spring 2013. Before that, we’d put out Southern Minnesota magazine with the Albert Lea Tribune, but we opted to move from a regional magazine and split into two community-centric magazines: Austin Living and Albert Lea Magazine.

The change has been a positive one, bringing more recognition and exposure to the magazine. We really have you, our readers  in Austin and Mower County, to thank for the support.

The number of compliments and conversations we hear about Austin Living has increased dramatically since Austin Living formed, and be the production it is if the community hadn’t embraced it.

The next Austin Living, the March-April 2016 edition will be out the last week of February. You can pick up copies here at the Herald, 310 Second St. NE.

We still have many stories to tell. If you have any story ideas, contact me at jason.schoonover@austindailyherald.com or Eric Johnson at photodesk@austindailyherald.com.