Earlier this month The Leader brought home several top honors at the Tennessee Press Association’s annual summer convention.
Held in Chattanooga, this year’s event combined the state press awards banquet, the ideas contest breakfast for advertising and marketing awards and the luncheon announcing hall of fame inductees with the advertising/circulation and newsroom conferences.
The editorial team earned eight awards:
- Best special section (Group 1) – first place – Discover Tipton County, Spring 2018
- Best personal column (Group 1) – first place – Sunshine Week is important – Echo Day
- Best graphics and illustrations (Groups 1-3) – first place – March 1, 2018 front page – Echo Day
- Best sports photograph (Group 1) – second place – “Up and Over” by Jeff Ireland
- Best website (Group 1) – second place
- Best breaking news coverage (Group 1) – third place – Pilot dies after Covington plane crash – Echo Day
- Makeup and appearance (Group 1) – third place
- Best sports writing (Group 1) – fifth place – Jeff Ireland, Steve Holt
In the advertising/circulation contest, The Leader earned four awards:
- Best special section – first place – Discover Tipton County, Spring 2018
- Best reader contest – first place – Tails of Tipton pet calendar and contest
- Best automotive ad – second place – for Homer Skelton – Alan Ervin
- Best ¼ page or smaller ad – third place – for City of Covington – Alan Ervin
At the same convention, former Leader publisher George Whitley was posthumously inducted into the Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Leader publisher Matthew Richardson said though he wasn’t at the paper’s helm during the publication year, he is proud of the staff’s efforts, including for those entries in which an award was not given.
“I can tell a lot of hard work has gone into this paper and it is quite an accomplishment that we’ve won several first place awards. For 133 years, The Leader has been committed to covering what’s important to Tipton County and we plan to continue providing good quality coverage as your hometown newspaper.”
