The Barrow Journal sports staff has been recognized once again.
The paper earned eight awards from the Georgia Sports Writers Association contest during the group’s annual convention held at the Gwinnett Daily Post in Lawrenceville Sunday.
Sports editor Chris Bridges won first place in the Best Local News Story category for a story about “Will the local rivalry continue?” The story focused on whether Apalachee High School and Winder-Barrow High School would be able to continue competing against each other in football after 2011.
Bridges also won first for Best Column for his opinion piece about the annual Army-Navy game titled “Playing for a greater purpose than football.”
Bridges took third place for Best Column for his “Building a successful football program” entry which focused on the struggle in recent years of the WBHS football program.
The paper’s annual football preview section won first. The section was compiled by Bridges, Jessica Brown and Jason Bettis.
Brown won second for Best Photo for an entry titled “Splashing Success” and third place for “Flying High Again.”
The second place photo was of a YMCA Barracuda swim meet with the third place winner from a local track meet.
Bridges won third place in the Best Local Event Story category for an article detailing the Apalachee High School Lady Wildcat basketball team upsetting Madison County.
The Barrow Journal sports section was named second overall with fellow Mainstreet Newspaper publication The Jackson Herald earning first.
Both compete in Division III, which is for all papers published once, twice and three times each week.
Judges for the contest, which included entries for the 2011 calendar year, included Andy Staples, Sports Illustrated; Pat Dooley, Gainesville (Fla.) Sun; Antonya English, St. Petersburg Times and Parris Alford, Northeast Mississippi Journal.
“We are proud to be recognized once again by our peers,” Bridges said. “I have always put a high level of importance on this contest because of the quality judges.”
Erin Rossiter won two awards for The Commerce News, another Mainstreet Newspaper publication, for her work during 2011. Rossiter won first place for sports photograph and third place for Best Local Feature Story. Rossiter is now a writer for the
Barrow Journal.
The Barrow Journal sports staff is comprised of Bridges (sports editor), Brown (photographer), Tyler Rollason (writer) and Susan Mobley (proofreader.)
