Outgoing editor reveals his top 5 front pages of the past decade

I’ve been in a room full of high powered media players as a news reel of newspaper front pages is played on the big screen and the ‘ooohs and aaahs’ of the crowd resembled a fireworks display.

Some of the amazing front pages of The Northern Star over the years.

I’ve been in a room full of high powered media players at a conference as a news reel of newspaper front pages is played on the big screen and the ‘ooohs and aaahs’ of the crowd resembled a fireworks display going off.

The power of a good front page to move people should not be under estimated.

Which is why, as the soon to be outgoing editor of The Northern Star, I’ve put together a collection of my top five favourite pages of the past decade.

Number 1:

The 2017 flood in Lismore produced this dramatic fastwater rescue in one of the main streets of the CBD.

I remember our award-winning photographer Marc Stapelberg wasn’t that happy with the incredible image which anchored our front page because he thought it was a little out of focus.

My contribution was the headline, which was originally just Got You.

Just before deadline I added the word ‘I’ because it was more an emotional description of the scene being portrayed.

Northern Star front page.

Number 2:

In April 2015, the Star ran a series of stories about Casino teenager Jackson Byrnes and his family’s desperate efforts to raise $80,000 in four days in order for renowned surgeon Dr Charlie Teo to operate and remove an otherwise fatal brain tumour.

It resulted in the money being raised and the operation being performed.

My thoughts go out to his family.

Northern Star front page.

Number 3:

In 2016, Lismore went into lockdown for a different reason after a man, who was believed to be armed, barricaded himself inside a house in East Lismore.

The proximity of the house to nearby schools caused a great degree of concern and the sight of heavily armed police on the streets of Lismore really was out of character for this normally quiet town.

Northern Star front page.

Number 4:

Although it was Bunnings that ultimately saved the Big Prawn, the Northern Star played a big role in highlighting the impending destruction of this iconic crustacean.

Although the final prawn looks much better than this artistic rendition, it felt good to be a part of such a campaign.

Ballina without the Big Prawn would like Byron without the lighthouse or Lismore without the Big Log.

The Northern Star front page from June 17, 2013.

Number 5:

The Pacific Highway before the duplication north of Newcastle was completed was one of the most dangerous stretches of road in Australia.

Over many years there have been some spectacular and heartbreaking crashes and fatalities.

In 2011, the driver of this truck was killed on the Pacific Highway near Tintenbar.

The Northern Star front page on January 1, 2011.