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Statesboro Herald earns nine Georgia AP awards
Paper wins first places for picture story, photo illustration
Michelle mug2
Michelle Boaen

    The Statesboro Herald won nine awards in the 2006 Georgia Associated Press Awards contest, including first place in two categories. The awards were announced Saturday in Atlanta during the AP’s annual awards luncheon.

The Herald, a Morris Multimedia newspaper, competed in Class A for newspapers with daily circulation under 10,000. There were 22 newspapers eligible in Class A and the Herald won the second most awards in the division.

The Cherokee Tribune in Canton earned 10 awards.

Members of the Indiana Associated Press judged contest entries in March.

“We are proud of the recognition by our peers for the superior work accomplished by our reporters and photographers last year,” said Randy Morton, Herald publisher. “We look forward to continue giving our readers a product that provides insight, entertainment and information they can’t get anywhere else.”

The Herald earned first place awards in the categories of Picture Story and Photo Illustration. The paper also won a second place in Business Reporting, Sports Reporting, Graphics & Illustrations and Picture Story and third places in Non-Deadline Reporting, Sports Reporting and Sports Feature Photograph.

Herald photographer Michelle Boaen’s series of photos about the hostage standoff in Statesboro in January 2006 was named the top entry in the Picture Story category. Boaen’s photos depicted the scene around downtown Statesboro as the situation developed throughout the day and into the night. The award is Boaen’s third first place AP award in the past four years.

Boaen also won two other awards for her photos in 2006. She earned a second place in the Picture Story Category for her photos at the homecoming of the Statesboro-based 648th Engineer Battalion when they arrived in Savannah after a year of duty in Iraq. Also, her photo showing the reaction at Paulson Stadium of people to a video shown about Erk Russell the day after he died won a third place in the Sports Feature Photo category. Boaen, who now is a copy editor at the Herald, has won nine AP photo awards since she began her career at the Herald in 2003.

Former Herald graphic designer Craig Cameron earned a first place in the Photo Illustration category for his work on a photo showing a fake drivers license ID. The photo treatment appeared on the Aug. 31, 2006 cover of Connect Statesboro.

Cameron also earned a second place in Graphics & Illustrations for his drawing of Georgia Southern students and graduates who were either appearing on TV or in film. His “Eagles on the Air” illustration appeared on the Aug. 10, 2006 cover of Connect Statesboro.

Herald business editor Jan Moore earned a second place in Business Reporting for her story about the impact of immigrant labor on construction, farming and other industries in Bulloch.

Sports writer Alex Pellegrino story about how football player Jayson Foster’s role in Georgia Southern’s offense had diminished earned a second place in the Sports Reporting category. Also, former sports editor David Kilmer’s story on a 47-year-old Bulloch man’s obsession with the knuckleball won a third place in the same category.

Finally, Herald reporter Holli Deal Bragg earned a third place in the Non-Deadline Reporting category for her story and lengthy interview with Robbie and Connie Brower about why they took an attorney hostage in his Statesboro office.

The Times of Gainesville, which also is owned by Morris Multimedia, won 13 AP awards, including five first place honors, in Class AAA. Times reporter Rick Lavender earned first place awards in Feature Writing and Non-Deadline reporting. Also, photographer Tom Reed won first in Feature Photo, photographer Robin Michener Nathan earned first in the Picture Story category and graphic designer Edie Rogers won first in the Graphics & Illustrations category.

The Covington News, another Morris Multimedia paper, won three AP awards in Class A, including a first place by photographer Mandi Singer in the Feature Photo category.

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