News Virginian wins top honor, 29 news awards

The News Virginian has captured the Virginia Press Association’s Journalistic Integrity and Community Service award for the second consecutive year.

The association recognized the newspaper at its annual meeting Saturday in Norfolk.

Overall, the newspaper won 29 VPA awards in news, features, sports and photography categories among newspapers under 20,000 circulation, including 11 first-place awards.

The paper earned the community service award for “The Borders Within,” a year-long series by city editor Tony Gonzalez and reporter Chase Purdy about Waynesboro’s growing Hispanic community.

The award this year was for newspapers under 30,000 circulation.

Regional Publisher Lawrence L. McConnell said, “it is gratifying and humbling that the Waynesboro News Virginian for the second year in a row has won the Community Service Award.”

“The 29 awards that were bestowed on The News Virginian only reinforce our efforts to continue to serve the people of Waynesboro and Augusta County,” he said.

Charlotte Hall, retired editor of the Orlando Sentinel and former managing editor of Newsday, judged the community service competition.

Of “The Borders Within” Hall commented: “Tony Gonzalez and Chase Purdy spent more than a year … developing contacts, gaining the trust of newcomers and even learning Spanish to facilitate their reporting.

“The results were a series of stories that revealed the humanity of newcomers and contributed to greater community understanding.

“In one case, their reporting also righted a wrong, as they showed how immigration red tape had dangerously divided a family.”

The public service award was created in 1947. Entries are judged on evidence of a significant effort beyond a publication’s routine scope; the initiative of the publication; the use of editorials in connection with the project or projects; and the results.

Every member of the News Virginian’s news department won a VPA award.

Purdy earned 10, including first-place honors in breaking news writing, multimedia feature and feature writing portfolio.

Gonzalez also received 10 awards, including first-place finishes for investigative reporting and public safety writing.

Other first-place awards went to sports editor Rob Sisk for sports pages, photographer Rosanne Weber for sports news photo, reporter Megan Davis for breaking news and feature writing and features editor Gina Farthing for personal service writing.

The News Virginian advertising and design departments earned 17 awards, including four first-place awards.

Staff members receiving first-place awards were Betsy Boldt, Win Bottomley, Rebecca Brewer, Patti Butler, Kathryn Gonzalez, Kim Potter and Stephanie Sipe.