ALBERTVILLE, Ala. — Shannon J. Allen has been named the publisher of The Sand Mountain Reporter, owner Patrick Graham announced Monday.

“I couldn’t be more excited to make this announcement,” Graham said. “Shannon’s love for and dedication to our community has been on full display during his more than three decades here at The Reporter. This is an opportunity that is long overdue for someone of Shannon’s caliber, and I have no doubt he is going to do an outstanding job moving forward in his new role as the newspaper’s publisher.”

Allen previously served as the longtime sports editor of The Reporter, joining the paper in May 1988 upon his graduation from college. Allen has spent his entire 32-year career in the newspaper business at The Reporter.

“I am truly humbled by this tremendous opportunity,” Allen said. “Sand Mountain and The Reporter are home for me and always will be. I look forward to continue working with the terrific staff we have here at The Reporter to make this the best newspaper in the entire state of Alabama because that is what our readers, advertisers and community both want and deserve.”

Allen has received numerous awards from the Alabama Press Association through the years for writing, photography and sports coverage. He received the Distinguished Alabama Community Sports Journalist from Auburn University's journalism department in 2009, and he was inducted into the Marshall County Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

Allen is a 1984 Crossville graduate and attended Snead State in 1984-85. A 1988 graduate from the University of Alabama, Allen received a Buford Boone Journalism Scholarship, was a paid staff writer for The Crimson White in 1985-86 and worked as a student assistant in the sports information department in 1987-88.

Allen is married to the former Malarie Haven, who works for Shepherd's Cove Hospice. The couple has three children — James, 6; Brady, 4; and Maggie Jo, 1.

Allen replaces Kim Patterson, who is no longer with the newspaper.

The Sand Mountain Reporter is one of five newspapers Graham owns. Graham also owns the Jackson County Sentinel in Scottsboro; The Times-Journal in Fort Payne; The Covington News in Covington, Georgia; and The Walton Tribune in Monroe, Georgia.

Graham had previously been on staff with the newspapers in Albertville, Fort Payne and Monroe.