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For Bill Horner, and especially Billy Ligget, North Carolina Press Association's annual awards banquet Thursday must have been a heartening time. It had not been an easy year with some readers adjusting to a change in layout, a change in printing platforms and key production practices, a new online offering, and its share of downsizing and turnover. Nevertheless, they left the banquet with 9 awards, a record for the newspaper. The Herald's newsroom won first-place awards for spot news reporting, appearance and design and graphic illustration. The "spot news" recognition, a paper's coverage of a single event. was a result of The Herald's coverage of President Clinton's visit to Sanford in late March of last year. Coverage was led by former Herald reporter Chelsea Kellner, news reporter Gordon Anderson, Community Editor Jonathan Owens, Special Projects Editor R.V.Hight and former Herald photographer Brooke Wolfe. With Clinton's stop being one of many in North Carolina as he stumped for his wife, then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, papers all across the state were faced with providing plenty of "spots news" opportunities. Two late September items, one of them including the preparation for last October's unveiling of the 2nd Century Project, Sanford's new branding campaign, brought in the gold for "appearance and design". The latter award should be especially appreciated by county citizens due to the long-term importance to the county's future. Editor Billy's Liggett's top finish for graphic illustration of Sanford city councilmen who were either for or against the city's business privilege tax should come as no surprise to Herald readers and others who gave their own personal kudo's for it at the time. Liggett was the only North Carolina columnist in all four daily newspaper divisions to be awarded for both "serious columns" and "light columns," winning second place in both categories. One of Liggett's "lighter columns" dealt with the joy and agony that came with raising a new puppy, while one of his "serious columns" focused on the area's need to complete the soon-to-be-built green way in Lee County.The awards should be especially gratifying in that newspaper editors in towns the size of Sanford can catch a lot of flak, and it shows his wide ranging talents. They do little, however, to help others who are still trying to decide his philosophy of life. Herald movie critic Neil Morris also received a second-place nod in the"criticism" category for his movie reviews, which included his glowing review of the 2008 blockbuster, "The Dark Knight." The fan of any local sport should be well pleased with Sports Editor Alex Podlogar's third place award for his sports columns, one of which included a story about his 5-year-old daughter playing soccer. The award was Podlogar's third sports column writing award in his four years with The Herald. The awards should be especially appreciated as alternative sources of state and national news abound on the Internet, but local sports fans must depend on the Herald for its excellent coverage of the many sporting events in the area. Publisher Bill Horner said."Winning second place and third place in the special section category is also a coup for The Herald. That means of the hundreds of special sections produced this past year by newspapers in our category, we have two of the top three. Credit for that goes to Special Projects Editor R.V. Hight and contributor Chip Pate who coordinated the annual industrial edition and a third place award for its annual Lee County Living magazine."
Horner also noted the work of former Herald photographer Brooke Wolfe on these sections as well as the "spot news award." That compliment was right on the mark. The volume, yet excellence of her work was incredible. Editor Billy Liggent wrote on his blog, "The Herald has a wonderful young photographer in Brooke Wolfe, and I’d say it’s about time we started paying her, and not just in Bojangles gift certificates." A decision on her part to "move on" was probably a good one for her, but her fingerprints are all over the work that brought these awards and she will be missed. One would not have been surprised to see her place in the categories of General News Photography and Feature Photography. Another category where an award might have been expected was Headline Writing, where Ligget has written some clever ones. No surprise in the General Excellence Web Site despite this year's improvements. The Paxton group, of which the Sanford Herald is a part, is not known as an innovator there and has not come to grips with the realities of the Internet market yet.
For Bill Horner, and especially Billy Ligget, North Carolina Press Association's annual awards banquet Thursday must have been a heartening time. It had not been an easy year with some readers adjusting to a change in layout, a change in printing platforms and key production practices, a new online offering, and its share of downsizing and turnover. Nevertheless, they left the banquet with 9 awards, a record for the newspaper. The Herald's newsroom won first-place awards for spot news reporting, appearance and design and graphic illustration. The "spot news" recognition, a paper's coverage of a single event. was a result of The Herald's coverage of President Clinton's visit to Sanford in late March of last year. Coverage was led by former Herald reporter Chelsea Kellner, news reporter Gordon Anderson, Community Editor Jonathan Owens, Special Projects Editor R.V.Hight and former Herald photographer Brooke Wolfe. With Clinton's stop being one of many in North Carolina as he stumped for his wife, then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, papers all across the state were faced with providing plenty of "spots news" opportunities. Two late September items, one of them including the preparation for last October's unveiling of the 2nd Century Project, Sanford's new branding campaign, brought in the gold for "appearance and design". The latter award should be especially appreciated by county citizens due to the long-term importance to the county's future. Editor Billy's Liggett's top finish for graphic illustration of Sanford city councilmen who were either for or against the city's business privilege tax should come as no surprise to Herald readers and others who gave their own personal kudo's for it at the time. Liggett was the only North Carolina columnist in all four daily newspaper divisions to be awarded for both "serious columns" and "light columns," winning second place in both categories. One of Liggett's "lighter columns" dealt with the joy and agony that came with raising a new puppy, while one of his "serious columns" focused on the area's need to complete the soon-to-be-built green way in Lee County.The awards should be especially gratifying in that newspaper editors in towns the size of Sanford can catch a lot of flak, and it shows his wide ranging talents. They do little, however, to help others who are still trying to decide his philosophy of life. Herald movie critic Neil Morris also received a second-place nod in the"criticism" category for his movie reviews, which included his glowing review of the 2008 blockbuster, "The Dark Knight." The fan of any local sport should be well pleased with Sports Editor Alex Podlogar's third place award for his sports columns, one of which included a story about his 5-year-old daughter playing soccer. The award was Podlogar's third sports column writing award in his four years with The Herald. The awards should be especially appreciated as alternative sources of state and national news abound on the Internet, but local sports fans must depend on the Herald for its excellent coverage of the many sporting events in the area. Publisher Bill Horner said.