Daily Herald publisher receives special honor

Douglas K. Ray, head of the Daily Herald Media Group, was honored with a Distinguished Service Award from the Illinois Press Association during the IPA's 150th anniversary celebration at its annual convention in Normal, Illinois.

Ray, chairman, CEO and publisher of Paddock Publications Inc., which publishes the Daily Herald and the Daily Herald Business Ledger, was one of five longtime Illinois news executives chosen for the special honor by the IPA for their “significant impact on the association and the Illinois newspaper industry.”

“This is in recognition,” IPA Executive Director Dennis DeRossett told Ray, “of your significant commitment of service to the IPA and its mission of providing leadership, support and services to the Illinois newspaper industry.”

Ray is a past president of the IPA and a current member of the Illinois Press Foundation.

In making the presentation to him Thursday night, Cheryl Wormley, publisher and co-owner of the Woodstock Independent, said, “He's led a paper that has put the people ... of his communities first.”