The Covington News staff won a total of 10 awards at the Georgia Press Association banquet June 6, including first place for general excellence in division E (tri-weekly and bi-weekly newspapers).
Sports Editor Jason Murdock received first place honors for his sports section.
Rachel Oswald and Jenny Thompson were awarded third place in the prestigious community service category for a series of stories covering last summer's drought and ways businesses and individuals could conserve water.
Staff members gained a number of individual awards as well.
Photographer Mandi Singer won three first place awards for photo essay, sports feature photograph and sports photograph. She also received a second place award for spot news photo.
Singer also fared well in the Associated Press awards competition. She received first place honors in the spot news category, and third place awards in the sports action photo, picture story and portfolio categories.
Tyler Smith placed first in the feature writing category and second in the hard news writing category.
Rachel Oswald received second place honors for investigative reporting, and Michelle Kim received second place for religion coverage.
Sunday Living Columnist Kari Apted won second place in the humorous column category.
The News also garnered third place in headline writing, second place in layout and design and second place in the page one categories.
For more information on other winners or about the Georgia Press Association, visit www.gapress.org.
