Division B
George Willoughby, Taylor Easter
Little Boots, Baby Rockets
Kelly Snow
Editorials 2025-26
In general, the editorials do a good job of striking a fair tone. They encourage readers to be reasonable and raise up opportunities to be better as a community, and examples of doing such.
Ben McCormick
Karrie Obie’s home run record season
This was a well-written deep dive into a moment, just skillfully presented. Terrific lead, and it really gave context to a big moment for a player and a team.
Ben McCormick
The Courier-Times Sports 2026
Excellent sports coverage provided including game coverage, team previews, and more. There's a good mix of photos, and I like the addition of the Athletes of the Week.
Ben McCormick and Staff
2025 Fall Sports Preview
The community is lucky to have such a comprehensive preview.
Ben McCormick and Staff
2025 Fall Sports Preview
The community is lucky to have such a comprehensive preview.
Ben McCormick
Father Time conquers the Appalachian Trail
What could have been a ho-hum summary of someone else's trip is instead a well-crafted narrative packed with specific details that takes readers along on the adventure. Starting with his mom and circling back to her at the end is a well-chosen framework as well.
Ben McCormick
Home Run Queen
Kelly Snow
Mr. Sam’s 100th birthday
Jessie Butner
Ledes 2025-26
I like the descriptive writing in these ledes, but they would have benefitted from being more than one paragraph. Keep the words, add more breaks.
George Willoughby, Kelly Snow
Civil rights complaint against sheriff, deputies
Jessie Butner
The end of an era: Cole’s Pharmacy
An homage at the end of the line for a longtime local business, the story raises the issue of pharmacy benefit managers putting the screws to independent pharmacies, many of which are forced to close, leaving their customers without a drugstore in the neighborhood
Ben McCormick
The Spice of Sports
Kelly Snow
CJF America
A really good amount of original reporting while crediting other outlets that have also reported on the story. It really get lost in the weeds of detail at a few key points though, and an edit to tighten it up would have worked wonders.
George Willoughby
‘It takes a community’ — Person High School band
Story shows how an important part of community was brought back. Good uses of multiple perspectives of those involved.
Kelly Snow
Person County GOP outdoor convention confusion
Good mix of sources to try and sort out the story.
Staff
The Courier-Times August 2025
The top two finishers have similar breadth of coverage for the communities, including many varied stories, notification, agendas, etc. What set this apart was it's lede investigative stories on fraud and civil rights complaints.
Ginger Carroll, Jan Ross
Graduation Section 2025
This is very well done, I really enjoyed it.
Ginger Carroll
Hot Sauce
Ginger Carroll
Winterfest
Ginger Carroll, Jan Ross
Salute our Veterans