News Leaders Association Awards announced - Entrepreneur Generations

The American Society of News Editors and the Associated Press Media Editors have announced the winners of the first News Leaders Association Awards for distinguished writing, digital storytelling and photography in journalism. The annual awards will combine and replace the ASNE and APME Awards. Here are some winners that had rural resonance:

Corey Friedman, editor of The Wilson Times in North Carolina, won the Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership in the Small division for editorials that criticized the local school board for stifling parents' and students' voices during meetings. The award is sponsored by The Dallas Morning News and comes with a $1,250 award.

Judges' comments: "This newspaper tackled an important topic - the public's right to offer their views to elected officials - and it didn't let go. It offered readers information to get involved and it effected change. A fine example of a news organization looking out for its readers."

The two runners-up were the staff of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, and editor Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine Herald-Press in Texas. The Capital Gazette left the front page of its editorial section nearly blank the day after five employees were shot to death, with a small paragraph in the center of the page saying "Today, we are speechless" over the shooting, and promising the page would return the next day to its regular offerings. The Herald-Press editorials were unflinching calls for accountability from various public officials.

The Capital Gazette's news coverage of the shooting earned it the Al Neuharth Breaking News Reporting Award and made it a finalist for the Visual Journalism Award in the Small category.

Ed Williams of Searchlight New Mexico won the Frank A. Blethen Award for Local Accountability Reporting in the Small devision for "A Pattern of Failures" which revealed how a private foster care agency allowed foster parents to abuse already-traumatized children, and how the state provided little oversight into how such agencies operated. The award is sponsored by The Seattle Times in honor of its publisher, and comes with a $1,250 award. Searchlight New Mexico is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news outlet with content-sharing partnerships with over two dozen regional news organizations.

Judges' comments: "This small, feisty organization produced an investigation into New Mexico's private foster care industry that was compelling and expertly written, pulling readers through a complex topic. And it got results: spurring a state investigation and putting the issue front-and-center in the state's gubernatorial race."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2UtBBHp News Leaders Association Awards announced - Entrepreneur Generations

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