I recently celebrated my one-year anniversary at The Covington News, and as I’ve had time to reflect on the past 365 days, I must say, it’s been a nothing short of a wild ride.

As we’ve traversed the pandemic like everyone else, this newspaper has achieved many goals since I first stepped foot into the building on Usher Street.

Our crown achievement was doing something most newspapers wouldn’t dream of trying — especially during a pandemic. Upon my arrival at The Covington News was only published on weekends. Now there’s a print edition publishing every Wednesday and weekend. We revived the midweek edition in August as part of this newspaper’s commitment to be Newton County’s most reliable news source.

In doing so, we’ve achieved another goal. Our readership, both online and print subscribers, has grown steadily.

A few months ago, we launched The Covington News app that is free to download today.

We’ve launched various special publications that are new to the community, including Women of Newton and our Menu Guide, in addition to the regular publications our readers look forward to each year, such as Newcomers’ Guide, Football Preview and Visions, among others.

I can also share that our newspaper has won numerous editorial and advertising awards this year from the Georgia Press Association, but we’ll share specifics of those recognitions in due time.

But above all, over the past year we’ve made it a point to listen to readers’ input, and we’ve done our best to give you exactly what’s desired of your community newspaper.

I’m excited about how far this newspaper has come since I’ve become publisher — not to say I’ve accomplished these things alone. It was the hard work of our entire staff and ownership that allowed us to have a monumental year. 

From day one, my promise to this community has been to work fervently to help make this newspaper not only one of the best in the state, but, most importantly, a publication this community can be proud of and rely upon. I believe we’ve made great strides toward that long-term goal this year, but I’m not satisfied. There’s plenty of room to grow, and the work continues today.

In fact, readers will see, yet again, the fruit of our staff’s labor inside this Wednesday’s print publication.

This week, July 14, The Covington News launches its new Entertainment Extra — a special section that we’re adding to our Wednesday edition each week at no cost to you. Featured within the Entertainment Extra will be TV listings, articles about your favorite shows and upcoming films, a variety of puzzles, including crosswords, sudokus and word searches, and sports quizzes. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind product that many readers have been asking for and a product we believe all of our readers will come to love.

As I enter year two at the helm of The News, please feel free to let me know: is there something we’re doing that you feel could be done better? Is there something we’re not doing that you want us to do? Is there a local issue that you want us to address and shed light on? 

Please feel free to contact me or any other staff member to provide your input on how we can continue to make your community newspaper the best it can be.

Fireworks show lives up to the hype

I’d be remiss if I wrote a column after Independence Day and didn’t acknowledge how awesome the fireworks in Covington were this past Sunday. Prior to moving here, I had been told how magical Fourth of July was in Newton County, but I also know some people tend to innocently exaggerate. However, my family and I discovered that the hype was real.

Hats off to all involved with the fireworks show. It was an excellent event, I can’t wait to enjoy the full festival experience next year.

Taylor Beck is editor and publisher of The Covington News. He may be reached at tbeck@covnews.com.