Salisbury Post Editorial Page Editor Chris Verner has won a first-place prize in the prestigious 2008 Green Eyeshade Awards, a journalism contest that recognizes excellence among media outlets in 11 Southern states.
Verner took first in serious column writing in the Small Daily Division, for newspapers with less than 50,000 circulation.
Verner submitted a collection of columns published in 2007, including one about the death of Richard Jewell, the security guard mistakenly implicated as a suspect in the Atlanta Olympics bombing, and another about the recurrence of Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer as John Edwards campaigned for president.
John Hackworth, of the Charlotte Sun, in Charlotte Harbor, Fla., took second place in the small daily-serious commentary category.
In the large daily-breaking business news category, Kyle Stock, Schuyler Kropf and Katy Stech of the The Post and Courier, in Charleston, S.C., took second place for “Economist Accused of Fraud.” The Post and Courier is a sister newspaper of the Salisbury Post.
Brian Hicks, of the Post and Courier, took first place for online-humorous commentary.
The awards were announced at a banquet Saturday in Atlanta, the 58th year that the awards have been given.
The Jackson Herald, a weekly published in Jefferson, Ga., took top honors, the Best of Show Award, for its investigative report on secret bank accounts and questionable expenditures by Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tim Madison. The Herald’s stories, which capped a two-month investigation, took up the Jackson County weekly’s entire front page on March 7, 2007.The annual competition drew more than 600 entries from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Started by the Atlanta Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the contest is now administered by regional directors for the Society.
The Society of Professional Journalists works to improve and protect journalism. The organization is the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior.
Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry, works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.