From the editor: News & Record wins 19 journalism awards from NC Press Association

Today I'm going to tell you about some awards we've won here in the News & Record newsroom, as a way to highlight some of our journalists and the great work they've been doing.

Before I do that, let me say that the true measure of our performance is how we serve you, our readers and audience members. If some panel of journalists from Colorado or Alabama judge our work to be the best in the state, well, great. We'll hang up the plaque in our office.

But we value your opinion the most, whether it comes in emails or voice mail messages or social media posts. You also express your opinion when you click on our website or a link to one of our stories. That's why we track which stories draw the largest audiences, attract the most loyal readers, and motivate people to subscribe.

Some folks might read this and say, "Oh, you're just going after clicks."

Behind every click is a human being with a heart and mind. We want to know which stories you need and want, and we're intensely interested in building a loyal audience. You don't do that by being sensational and trying to lure a million people to your site who will never come back.

Anyway, I'm going to tell you who from the N&R won what in the highest division of the latest North Carolina Press Association contest, which includes the largest newspapers in the state. Overall, we received 19 awards on Thursday night. If you don't see your favorite reporter or story from the past year, let me know who and what you think should have won. Remember, your opinion matters most.

Here we go:

Woody Marshall won the prestigious Hugh Morton Photographer of the Year award, named after the photographer and nature conservationist who developed Grandfather Mountain.

Woody had a great year shooting a wide variety of subjects . My favorite photos Woody shot over the past year include a girl from Southern Guilford High ejecting a shotgun shell from her 12-gauge after shooting skeet at the school's range, Richard Petty kissing a statue of his late wife Lynda, and an Army sergeant getting licked in the face by his service dog while receiving an automobile from the Freedom Alliance, an organization that assists veterans.

Woody also won second place awards for sports photography and photo page.

Reporter Nancy McLaughlin, who's been with the N&R for more than three decades, also had a banner year, winning first place for faith reporting, first and second place for profile features, and second place for both beat feature reporting and arts & entertainment reporting. Her first place stories included a profile of Bob Brown of High Point , one of the most influential Americans you don't know but should, and a feature about the Stokesdale Middle School choir, which sings from the heart .

Our two newest reporters, Kevin Griffin and Camdyn Bruce, shared the award for best political reporting for their coverage of the Donald Trump presidential campaign rally in Greensboro in March.

Both joined our newsroom in February. Kevin, a graduate of Rockingham County High School and Appalachian State, transferred to the News & Record after nearly eight years with our sister paper The Hickory Daily Record. Camdyn joined us in February after completing his coursework for a master's degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina.

Our opinion editor Allen Johnson won first place for best editorial page and second place for editorial writing. Allen works hard to get a wide spectrum of viewpoints and opinions into the paper. Judges praised his team of community columnists for being "the backbone of the page" and also praised Allen's editorials, calling them "sharp, critical and packed with reason."

Speaking of new reporters, the first story Connor McNeely wrote for us as a summer intern from Wake Forest University earned him first place for local government reporting. It was about a firefighter fired for posts he made on social media . Connor, now a full-time employee, also won third place for news enterprise reporting.

Former reporter Kenwyn Caranna won first place for business writing for "Money for nothing: Cash offers to Triad homeowners ended up costing them plenty."

Sports reporter Bryant Roche won third place for sports enterprise reporting, and Susie Spear won third place for arts and entertainment reporting.

Oh, and some guy with a hyphenated name won third place for serious columns.

Overall, the News & Record won second in the state for General Excellence, as well as second place for community coverage.

Again, these awards highlight some of our journalists and their work over the past 18 months or so, but what you think is what matters.

Thanks for reading.

Executive Editor