Tough competition is a bit different for me. When I was in Williams Lake there were two papers in town so there was competition, but it wasn't fierce.
One thing that I've noticed since I've been here is that the competition is tough. We try to beat the other guys and they sure as heck try and beat us. Hopefully that makes all of us stronger. But where it gets really funny is in sponsored events. I've run into that a few times since I've been here. The most recent was the Canwest Spelling Bee. It is, of course, sponsored by the Citizen. When I mentioned to a few people -- inside and outside of our office -- that we would be covering the event, they were surprised. Given that it is sponsored by the Citizen, folks somehow think we wouldn't be interested.
As far as I'm concerned, a community event is a community event, regardless of who is sponsoring it. We will continue to cover events, regardless of who sponsors them. If an event is important to the community, then presenting that to the community shouldn't depend on who sponsored the event.