By JOEL PHELPS | The Arkadelphian

There simply aren’t enough hours in the day. This week, we’ve been doling out certificates to and taking pictures of the winners from our Readers Choice Award, which was open for voting throughout the month of May. With somewhere around 140 categories, that’s a lot of awards. It’s been a gratifying experience to see the winners’ faces light up when they learn they were chosen Best This or Best That, so not only should the winners pat themselves on the back — but you, Kind Reader Who Took The Time To Vote, should also give yourself a round of applause. This phase of the project is quite time-consuming, and a quick glance at the stack of awards on our desk says we’re probably a little over halfway done. The results will be announced in list form on Monday, June 26, in an article that will appear on our website; photos of the winners will be included in a Facebook post that links to the complete list (the list will include second-place winners). It’s a fun project, but golly is it a taxing one!

That noted, we’re running behind. Forgive this one-man show if there’s not big news reported every day.

We messed up with our most recent reader poll, as we failed to promote it on Facebook. The poll received a handful of votes about a question whose responses were quite split. The question: Should there be an urban archery deer hunt allowed in Arkadelphia? There are currently nine Arkansas municipalities where this is happening, and we’ve wondered for years how residents feel about it. We’ll repost the poll soon and get those Facebook folks involved. Sorry for the mishap.

Some of our original reporting from 2022 has been selected finalist in an upcoming journalism awards ceremony.

With 860,000 page views so far this year, arkadelphian.com is the place to share your news or advertise your business. Sure, you should tell your Facebook friends, but remember if you want to reach a general audience, this is the place to do it. Be forewarned, though, that news is news and advertising is advertising.

Joel Phelps is publisher, editor, advertising manager, reporter, photographer, webmaster and sometimes janitor at arkadelphian.com. Opinions expressed in Bits & Pieces are his own. Drop him a line at editor@arkadelphian.com. Dirty his hands, it comes right off.