The News-Gazette brought home 11 awards from the 2024 Virginia Press Association News and Advertising Contest banquet held Saturday, April 12, at the Omni Richmond Hotel. The newspaper won two first-place awards, five seconds and four thirds in the Non-Daily, Group 3 division of newspapers with similar-size circulation from across the state.
General assignment reporter and staff writer Joseph Haney won a first-place prize for public safety writing. “Good variety of reporting on local public safety matters,” a judge commented.
The award was for three stories – “New Safe Zone,” about a public area established by the Lexington Police Department where people can safely make sales transactions as well as child custody arrangements and exchanges; “Saddlin’ Up,” about the LPD’s short-lived mounted unit getting ready for its debut; and “Being There For The Victim,” about Buena Vista police officer Jennifer Smith’s role investigating cases involving domestic assaults, sexual assaults and crimes involving children.
Haney also won a second-place award in government writing for three stories – “Close Call For The MSA,” about an over-chlorination incident at the Maury Service Authority’s water treatment plant that illustrated the need for upgrades to the system; “Glass Recycling Effort In Trouble,” about the lone local source for recycling glass being in jeopardy because of the company’s difficulty in selling its products; and “PFAS Water Tests Begin In Lexington,” about an Environmental Protection Agency program to test public water for the presence of polyfluoroalkyl substances that can pose a hazard to public health.
Haney and Anneliese Schneider shared a second-place award in general news writing for Natural Bridge Zoo saga, a series of articles about a state police investigation into the zoo’s treatment of its animals, the seizure of those animals and the subsequent court proceedings.
Schneider, a former general assignment reporter and staff writer for The News-Gazette who is continuing her education at The New School in New York City, also won a third-place award for education writing. A judge wrote of her entries: “A good variety of voices were included, particularly in the bilingual literacy story. The bilingual literacy and library literacy stories both had interesting ledes that prompted me to read further.”
The stories were “For Bilingual Literacy And More,” about a summer program at Washington and Lee University in which English is taught to speakers of other languages; “Keeping Your Heart Healthy,” about a project-based learning initiative for middle school students to learn about how to prevent heart disease; and “Shaping Lives, Opening Doors,” about a youth literacy program taught at the local library.
Layout designer and photographer Stephanie Mikels Blevins won a first-place award in page design based on three pages she submitted. One page was a Lifestyle cover about the 2024 Mock Republican Convention at W&L that featured a colorful presentation with photos of key speakers. “Very visual,” a judge commented.” The other page entries were for a Lifestyle page on the Maury River Fiddlers Convention and a sports page with coverage of an overtime win in the state quarterfinals by the Rockbridge County High School girls lacrosse team.
Blevins also won a third-place award for a feature photo from the Rockbridge Regional Fair. The photo, “Farm Critter Scramble,” was of a couple of 4-Hers trying to hold down an uncooperative pig. “Some pig!” a judge remarked.
Freelance photographer Mary Woodson won second place for a general news photo, “The Descendants,” of descendants of local slaves who were shown walking away from slaves’ quarters they had just visited in Brownsburg. They were among a group of descendants and Brownsburg Museum volunteers who were being interviewed that day by NPR journalist Robin Young for her segment on the museum’s “Interwoven: Unearthed Stories of Slavery” exhibit. “Poignant moment caught by the photographer,” wrote a judge. “Great news photo.”
Matt Paxton, publisher of the newspaper, won a second-place award for multiple advertisers and themed pages for a Downtown Staunton Holiday Gift Guide. “Well designed and executed” wrote a judge.
Ed Smith, assistant editor, won a secondplace award for editorial writing. “Great choice of subjects and excellent writing make these entries compelling,” wrote a judge.
The editorials were “Candidate Misses Opportunity,” about Republican U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao declining to take part in the Labor Day stump speeches at Glen Maury Park; “Protesting The Protesters,” about heavy-handed treatment of Gaza War demonstrators on college campuses; and “Sorting Out Where Solar Should Go,” about the debate over using farmland to place industrial-scale solar facilities.
Editor Darryl Woodson won a third-place award for general news writing for his account of a house fire that occurred west of Lexington. The fire injured three people and killed two pets. Joann Ware, copy editor, columnist and staff writer, won a third-place award for feature story writing. Her entry, “Layers Of History,” was about a retrospective on the different epochs of history over a period of centuries that have transpired on a portion of the W&L campus. “I really enjoyed reading the historical background. It seems like you did a great deal of research for this story. Nicely done,” wrote a judge.
