The Enterprise-Tocsin earned 20 awards at the Mississippi Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest last week, including first place in the General Excellence Category.
The E-T took home seven first place awards in total, and Publisher Bryan Davis won the Bill Minor Prize for Investigative/In-Depth Coverage for his story A King’s Speech about Martin Luther King’s 1966 speech at the Sunflower County Courthouse.
The contest this year was judged by the Oklahoma Press Association.
“The E-T staff put in a lot of long hours last year to put out the best product that we could for Sunflower County,” Davis said. “I am proud of each person here on staff, and I want to thank the community here for its continued commitment to its local
newspaper, whether that is through simply reading the paper, subscribing or advertising.”
Davis won first place for Investigative/In-Depth Coverage for the King story, which qualified him for the Minor award.
“This piece is skillfully written and well researched. I love that it captures local history while documenting a topic and themes with a much broader impact,” one judge wrote about the story that detailed MLK’s visit to Indianola nearly six decades ago.
Davis also won first place awards for Best Feature Story (Somewhere in Pisa); Best Sports Action Photograph; Best Business News Story and Best Commentary Column.
Davis and Josh Correro shared a first-place award for Best Use of Social Media for last year’s winter weather coverage.
The Pisa story detailed how a World War II artifact hunter in Italy found the dog tags of an Indianola man who had served there during the conflict.
“Now this is a story. It’s layered. Emotional. International. It bridges time, war, memory and family. These are the stories journalists enjoy writing about. Great job,” the judge said.
The E-T took home a dozen second, third and honorable mention awards listed below:
Second Place
Breaking News Story
Bryan Davis & A’Davias Gardner
Payroll Debacle Comes to a Head
Second Place
Investigative/In-Depth Coverage
Bryan Davis
Director Suspended, City, Humane Society at Odds Over Shelter
Second Place
Feature Story
Bryan Davis
The Tree
Second Place
Personality Portrait
A’Davias Gardner
Go, Junior Rams!
Second Place
Design
Bryan Davis & Staff
Second Place
Headline
Bryan Davis
Hot As Cell
Second Place
Best Use of Video
Bryan Davis & Chris Davis
Toxicity: I Believe They Took Us Out There to Kill Us
Second Place
Best Use of Social Media
Bryan Davis
Legislative Update
Third Place
Best Headline
Bryan Davis
This Land is Whose Land?
Third Place
Best Use of Video
Bryan Davis & Chris Davis
One Year Later
Third Place
Photo Series
Bryan Davis
Graduation Highlights
Honorable Mention
Best Sports Page
Bryan Davis
