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For the ninth consecutive year, The Times Record and Roane County Reporter have been named the top large circulation
weekly newspapers in the state.
On an individual basis, graphics editor Neil Grahame of Minnora, who has been doing editorial cartoons for Spencer
newspapers for several years, swept every award in the category for best editorial cartoon or drawing.
"This cartoonist is the best, hands down, of all submitted entries," the judges wrote. "His work is consistently
award-winning quality."
The newspapers received 1st place in General Excellence in the annual Better Newspapers Contest sponsored by the
W.Va. Press Association. The results were announced Saturday in Wheeling.
Judging is done by other state associations on a rotating basis and this year's contest was judged by members of the
Alabama Press Association.
Fifty-one of the state's newspapers placed over 4,000 entries in this year's contest which includes six circulation divisions,
three for daily newspapers and three for weeklies. The contest was for work published in 2002.
Placing second overall among large weeklies was The Jackson Herald of Ripley, while the Hampshire Review of Romney
was third.
The Spencer newspapers also took the top award for newspaper design, where the judges called it "best of the bunch
easily."
The newspaper staff also won the top award for political coverage, where the judges said "The Times Record set the
standard for weekly newspaper coverage of campaigns and election day."
In the category for lifestyles feature writing, Editor Jim Cooper won first while intern Alyssa Miller took second.
After selecting a story Cooper wrote about Reedy resident Billy Smith for the top prize, the judge wrote, "Hardest class I
ever judged. I feel I know Billy Smith personally. Story told perfectly."
Publisher David Hedges took first for coverage of the trial of a horse breeder accused of starving his animals of which the
judges said "The writer gave a good indepth account... He gave details of the defense which showed good impartiality. He
also made good use of experts to make this an all-around covered issue."
Photographer Sidney Boggs won the top award for both news photo and photo essay and also caught the judges' eye in
the best front page category, where they wrote, "Sidney Boggs obviously has a good eye with the camera, being able to get
the angle to turn ordinarily dull photos into great art."
Boggs and graphics artist Shari Parsons also won first for best photo illustration where the judges said a photo of Billy
Smith "jumps right off the page at the reader. (The) graphics artist took the almost big-as-life shot and created a page
readers will stop and read."
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