The Tennessean (Nashville) won 11 top awards, the most of any paper this year, at the annual Tennessee Press Association newspaper contest cosponsored by UT.
The Bristol Herald Courier, the News Sentinel (Knoxville), and the Standard Banner (Jefferson City) each received seven first-place awards.
The Tennessean, Bristol Herald Courier, the Nashville Ledger, the Standard Banner, and the Independent Herald (Oneida) also won the top general excellence awards in their respective divisions at the association’s dinner ceremony, held Thursday in Franklin, Tennessee. General excellence honors are based on total points accumulated for awards in five circulation categories.
Among the many stories from 2017 cited for excellent work, contest judges highlighted the Tennessean’s coverage of the church shooting in Antioch, Tennessee, and the News Sentinel’s look back at the human impact of the November 2016 wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
As part of the annual contest, newspapers winning first-place awards in the categories of editorials, best single editorial, and public service received $250 prizes from UT’s Edward J. Meeman Foundation. The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarkesville) won two awards this year, for editorials and best single editorial.
The Meeman Foundation was established in 1968 at UT to fund the contests, provide professional critiques of journalists’ work, and support journalism students and educators.
The West Virginia Press Association judged a total of 1,424 entries from 73 of the association’s 124 member newspapers. UT has cosponsored the annual contest since 1940.
Full results of the contest are available here.
CONTACT:
Charles Primm (865-974-5180, charles.primm@tennessee.edu)
Robyn Gentile (865-584-5761, rgentile@tnpress.com)