The Grenada Star earned 18 awards, including six first-place plaques, during the Mississippi Press Association’s Better Newspaper Media Contest Editorial Division Awards Luncheon held last Saturday at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown.
Highlighting the list of the paper’s prizes this year is the Community Service Award, which The Star won ahead of all newspapers in the state for the “Let’s Team Together Canned Food Drive” held in December 2021. Daily newspaper “The Commercial Dispatch” finished second, followed by “The Pine Belt News” and “The Winona Times,” both of which are also Emmerich Newspapers.
The judges for the competition called the food drive a “great example of how a paper can partner with community partners to meet a real need and cause change.”
Adam Prestridge, publisher of The Grenada Star, was especially proud of the newspaper’s win in Community Service.
“I am proud of the newspaper’s staff for spearheading such a worthwhile project that benefits so many in need in our community,” he said. “Our subscribers also rose to the challenge and helped make the food drive a huge success. We look forward to this being an annual project.”
The long list of awards helped The Grenada Star earn enough points to tie with sister publication “The Northside Sun” for third place in General Excellence in their class.
“Being awarded as one of the top newspaper’s in the state goes to show The Star’s commitment to the community and that even bigger things are yet to come,” Prestridge added. “Everyone on staff works tirelessly to ensure Grenada County’s community newspaper is keeping readers and residents informed.”
Other awards included:
• First Place, Spot News Story – Prestridge, Reggie Ross and Chuck Hathcock for “County Frozen Solid,” for in-depth coverage of last February’s ice storm.
• First Place, Sports Feature – Hathcock for “Official,” a profile story on local umpire Cade McCracken.
• First Place, Game Story – Prestridge for “Extra point lifts Kirk over Marshall.”
• First Place, General News Photo – Prestridge for the photo of local Harlan Kinder accompanying the story “Extended Hours,” after The Sport Center was reopened following lifted COVID-19 curfews.
• First Place, Lede – Ross for his story “Fashionable John Ford more than meets the eye,” in Profile 2021.
• Second Place, Planned Series – Prestridge for his coverage of the Milwaukee Tool industrial announcement.
• Second Place, Design – Staff.
• Second Place, Best Use of Social Media – Staff.
• Third Place, Feature Story – Ross for “Decade of Heartache,” a 10-year memorial feature following the death of Grenada Police Department officer John Wayne Haddock.
• Third Place Sports, Feature Photo – Prestridge for his photo of Coffeeville High School football player Mac Carr II in The Red Zone preseason football magazine.
• Third Place, Personality Portrait – Prestridge’s photo of Carr
• Third Place, News Package – “County Frozen Solid” coverage.
• Third Place, Lifestyles Page – Staff
• Honorable Mention, In-Depth or Investigative Coverage – “County frozen solid” coverage.
• Honorable Mention, Photo Series – Prestridge for “Play ball!” for Grenada Youth League Opening Day coverage.
• Honorable Mention, Sports Page – Prestridge and Hathcock.
