Post brings home 15 awards

Chris Verner

Mark Wineka

Ronnie Gallagher

Jon Lakey

Sarah Hall

David Shaw

Staff report

The Salisbury Post's news staff collected 15 awards Thursday night at the annual N.C. Press Association Awards Banquet in Chapel Hill.

The Post competed with other newspapers in its circulation category, 15,000-35,000.

Former Post staff writer Steve Huffman won a first place award in criticism.

Huffman also won a third in general news reporting for "High Rock rescue"; third in deadline news reporting for "Spencer standoff"; and third in lighter columns.

Sports writer David Shaw won first place in sports columns.

Other awards were:

- Mark Wineka, second in news feature for "Goodbye, Mr. Rogers" and third in sports columns.

- Sarah Nagem, a former staff writer, second in news enterprise and investigative reporting for a series on the dropout dilemma.

- Photo Chief Jon Lakey, second in sports photography and third in illustration/photo illustration.

- Sarah Hall, second in criticism.

- Sports Editor Ronnie Gallagher, second in headline writing.

- Editor Elizabeth Cook, third, editorials.

- Chris Verner, third, serious columns.

- Staff, third, feature section design.

In other awards announced Thursday, the Charlotte Observer received the 2009 Senator Sam award for promoting open government and freedom of information from the North Carolina Associated Press.

The newspaper was honored for pressing for access to records on hospital executives' compensation, which led to a change in state law. The judges noted the newspaper persisted in its legal fight despite financial hardships faced by many media outlets. The award, named for former North Carolina Sen. Sam J. Ervin, was presented Thursday at the North Carolina Press Association's winter meeting at Chapel Hill.

"In an era when legal fees are some of the first line items to be cut, The Observer continued its court battle," the judges said.

The StarNews of Wilmington received an honorable mention for its reporting on safety issues at a high school field house.

Other awards presented by the North Carolina Associated Press were:

- Jimmy Tomlin of the High Point Enterprise won the O. Henry Award for best writing among smaller newspapers for the third-straight year. Kim Grizzard of The Daily Reflector of Greenville won an honorable mention.

- Betsi Robinson of the News & Record in Greensboro won the Carl Bell award for excellence in editing.

- Elizabeth Leland of the Charlotte Observer won the Thomas Wolfe Award for the best writing among large newspapers. Laura Giovanni of the Winston-Salem Journal won an honorable mention.

- Tricia Nadolny of the News & Record of Greensboro won the Walter Spearman award for young writers. The award is named for a longtime journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sadia Latifi of The News & Observer of Raleigh won an honorable mention.