BILOXI — The Columbian-Progress won 25 awards Saturday in the annual Better Newspaper Contest sponsored by the Mississippi Press Association.
That included six first places and second place in General Excellence among the state’s mid-sized weeklies.
“I’m tremendously proud of our staff for their hard work and commitment to producing a high-quality publication that emphasizes community service,” Editor and Publisher Charlie Smith said. “The awards are important, not to boost us, but because they represent our daily efforts to serve our readers.”
The awards are for stories and photos published in 2018 and were judged by journalists from Kansas. They were presented Saturday in Biloxi at the conclusion of Mississippi’s annual newspaper convention.
Smith won first place for editorials, editorial page and feature photo, and Sports Editor Joshua Campbell won a top award for sports feature story.
Smith, Production Manager Wright Nichols and former Managing Editor Mark Rogers won a first for news package, and the staff took home a top honor for lifestyles page.
Others awards included:
• Second place, planned series
• Second place, commentary column, Smith
• Second place, feature story, Campbell
• Second place, general news photo, Rogers
• Second place, spot news photo, Rogers
• Second place, sports feature photo, Campbell
• Second place, front page
• Second place, headline, Smith
• Second place, lede, Smith
• Third place, spot news, Smith and Rogers
• Third place, sports news story, Campbell
• Third place, game story, Campbell
• Third place, sports feature photo, Campbell and Rogers
• Third place, personality portrait, Rogers
• Third place, sports page
• Third place, special section
• Third place, magazine
• Third place, headline, Smith
The Daily Journal of Tupelo, The Natchez Democrat, The Meridian Star, The Pine Belt News of Hattiesburg, The Wayne County News and The Clarksdale Press-Register won top honors for General Excellence in the annual contest.
Tim Kalich, editor and publisher of The Greenwood Commonwealth, was honored with the J. Oliver Emmerich Award for Editorial Excellence — his record-shattering sixth win in this special category. Kalich previously won the award for the first time in 1997 and again in 2006, 2011, 2012, and 2013.
The award is named for the late Enterprise-Journal publisher J.O. Emmerich, considered the dean of Mississippi opinion writing. It was established in 1974 to recognize the single piece of best opinion writing in the state each year and is considered the top honor in the contest. Five of the six winners for best editorials this year work for Emmerich Newspapers, including Kalich and Smith.
