The News & Record won a record 17 awards in the annual N.C. Press Association contest, which recognizes excellent work among the state's newspapers, including nine first-place awards and capturing the General Excellence awards for the second straight year.
Also, Susan Ladd, features editor, won the Associated Press Carl Bell Award for Editing for the second consecutive year. The award honors the best single piece of editing in North Carolina. "Susan's award shows once again what editors and writers here have known for some time: that she is an outstanding editor who improves even exceptional copy," Editor John Robinson said.
Additionally, sports writer Jim Young won honorable mention in the Thomas Wolfe Award writing contest. The Wolfe Award is given annually by the Associated Press for Outstanding writing in the state's largest newspapers. Young's honorable mention is the only one given in the category.
Jim's piece was "True Survivor," a story about Summerfield's Charlie Engle. Engle is a nationally known competitor in adventure races; in fact, Engle just recently made Runner's World magazine, according to Eddie Wooten, sports editor.
"These are crazy road races, across deserts or through jungles, and their distances make marathons look like sprints. Jim told Engle's story, one about these races and about Engle's addictive personality," Eddie said.
"Our newsroom talks and will talk about people, stories, and about connecting with our community, and Jim hit both of those marks with this one," he added.
The 17 NCPA awards were a record for the News & Record, with 15 won in 1990, according to Diane Lamb, text archive administrator in the news library. "We didn't need this recognition to confirm that we have a very good newspaper, but it does feel good," Editor John Robinson said in a staff memo.
Highlights of the NCPA contest included artist Tim Rickard's three awards, including two first place finishes for his work in graphics and illustrations. The N & R's sports department brought home first place for Special Sections for its outstanding work on the ACC's 50th anniversary.
And News & Record business writers won two individual awards and contributed to winning a third. Eric Heisler, now with the St. Louis Dispatch, won second place for Business Writing for his stories about a failed effort by local textile firms to build and operate plants in Mexico. Denise Becker, a business writer in the High Point bureau, won third place in the same category for her package on the threat posed to the local furniture industry by Chinese competition. Both these packages, along with other stories about the local economy, were included in an entry that won News & Record a Public Service award.
