CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - The Asheville Citizen-Times and The Charlotte Observer are among the newspapers honored for excellence in writing and editing by The Associated Press in North Carolina.
Winners were announced Thursday at the North Carolina Press Association Winter Institute in Chapel Hill.
Asheville was honored with the Senator Sam Award for its editorial on the city’s police chief and his involvement in the investigation of a traffic accident which involved his son. Brian Ponder won the Carl K. Bell Editing Award for the Citizen-Times.
Charlotte, which got an honorable mention for the Senator Sam Award, captured the Thomas Wolfe Award for its “Why did Jeffrey Williams die?” story. Written by Elizabeth Leland, the story was about a South Carolina boy who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the same Boone motel room where a couple from Washington state died. Asheville’s Barbara Blake won honorable mention in the category.
The Wilson Times won the O. Henry Award for “Freedom Fight,” Olivia Neeley’s story of a man convicted 37 years ago for a murder he says he didn’t commit and the efforts to free him which have spanned 10 years.
The Winston-Salem Journal won the Walter Spearman Award for a feature written by Brant Wilkerson-New on a local girls’ high school basketball player who was killed in a traffic accident in Alabama and her impact on family and friends.
The Times-News of Hendersonville was honored for outstanding member cooperation, and won honorable mention for the O. Henry. The News & Observer of Raleigh was noted for outstanding photo cooperation.
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