'News-Times' named best community paper
The Columbia County News-Times was honored as Georgia's best community newspaper in its class Friday in the Georgia Press Association's 2004 Better Newspapers Contest.
Donnie Fetter
File photo
At the GPA's annual conference, held last week in Savannah, Ga., The News-Times received first place in General Excellence for its division, which is made up of the state's non-daily newspapers published more than once per week.
In addition, News-Times staffers received nine first-place awards for work published in 2003, along with six second-place awards and two third-place prizes. In earlier GPA competition, the newspaper also received three awards for advertising.
"While The News-Times has received first place in General Excellence three times in the past five years, this year's award is especially gratifying for me because it's my first as publisher," Barry Paschal said. "The News-Times staff works very hard to provide a first-class newspaper for our growing community, and the GPA award validates our efforts."
The News-Times' sister paper, The Augusta Chronicle, scored a third-place win in the General Excellence category for the state's largest daily newspapers, while fellow Morris Communications newspaper The Savannah Morning News received first place.
"There can be no greater thrill than to be recognized by your peers and competitors," said Julian Miller, president of The Augusta Chronicle. "The Columbia County News-Times was named best in its class by the Georgia Press Association. While we have won this award before and annually finish in the top two or three, the excitement of winning it never diminishes, because in this business we start from scratch with every issue.
"I would like to congratulate our News-Times staff for a job well-done!"
In addition to the General Excellence award, The News-Times staff received first-place awards for page one design and religion coverage.
Other awards went to photographer Jim Blaylock, who took first place for feature photo, news photo, photo essay and spot news photo, as well as second-place awards for news photo and photo essay.
Staff Writer Donnie Fetter received a first-place award for feature writing and second place for business coverage; publisher Barry Paschal received a first-place award for editorial writing. Former staffer Mike Howell received first- and second-place awards for sports-column writing.
2004 GPA Awards
First place:
General excellence
Page one
Religion coverage
Feature photograph, news photograph, photo essay and spot news photo to Jim Blaylock
Feature writing, Donnie Fetter
Editorial writing, Barry Paschal
Sports column, Mike Howell
Second place:
Sports section
Business coverage, Donnie Fetter
News photo, photo essay to Jim Blaylock
Sports column, Mike Howell
Newspaper illustration, Jon Tanner
Newspaper website, NewsTimesOnline.com
Third place:
Investigative reporting
Newspaper illustration, Jon Tanner