You are holding an award-winning newspaper in your hands.
The Hamilton County Herald in July won four awards in the Tennessee Press Association’s 2015 newspaper contest, co-sponsored by the University of Tennessee. The honors included first place for Best Single Feature, second place for Best Business Coverage, fourth place for Local Features, and fifth place for Best Feature Photograph.
The event was held in conjunction with the press association’s summer convention, held in Knoxville. This year marked the 75th anniversary of the contest, which began in 1940.
The Best Single Feature award was conferred on the feature titled “Escape from a towering inferno,” published Friday, Nov. 7, 2014. The story offered a first-person account of writer David Laprad’s intense hands-on training session with the Chattanooga Fire Department.
Laprad and Production Manager Karen Dunphy were honored together for their work on Local Features, which included a piece on Chattanooga’s growing parkour craze titled “The spirit of movement,” published Friday, March 28, 2014. The combination of writing, photography, and design appealed to the judges, which consisted of journalism professionals with the Alabama Press Association.
Susanne Reed, general manager of the Herald, was thrilled with the recognition the newspaper received among other publications in its category. “We’re very proud of David. He continues to write excellent articles featuring the people of this remarkable city and county,” she said. “We’re also tremendously pleased with Karen. Every week, she takes the words and the photographs David submits and works magic.”
The Alabama Press Association judged a total of 1,407 entries from 69 of the association’s 121 member newspapers.