BILOXI — The Sun-Sentinel has won 21 awards for news coverage in the Mississippi Press Association’s 2023 Better Newspaper Media Contest.
Among the honors was one in the top “General Excellence” category among all weekly newspapers in the state based in a market of 5,000 residents or less.
The awards, for work published in 2023, were presented during a Saturday, June 29, luncheon at the MPA’s summer convention at the Golden Nugget Biloxi resort.
The contest entries were judged by newspaper professionals from the Louisiana Press Association.
The Sun-Sentinel placed third for overall excellence in its audience class. The Wayne County News of Waynesboro placed first, and The Yazoo Herald of Yazoo City finished second.
The honor marks the 11th consecutive year that The Sun-Sentinel has been judged among the top three publications in its audience class.
“We are again honored and humbled to be recognized as one of the best small-town publications in Mississippi,” said Sun-Sentinel Editor and Publisher Clay McFerrin, who in mid-June marked 41½ years of service at the newspaper.
“It is only because of the wonderful support of readers and advertisers in our community that we are able to continue gathering the news and sharing information that is meaningful to Tallahatchians,” he added. “We appreciate each one of you for sticking by us, especially in light of the personal challenges that my family and I have experienced over the past year. Thank you.”
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Clay McFerrin received four individual first-place plaques for:
» Best News Package, for news and photo coverage of an Aug. 28 National Park Service program at Graball Landing near Glendora commemorating the establishment of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument
» Best Feature Story, about an April 18 ceremony dedicating a state historical marker in honor of Col. John William Mitchell, the Enid native who led a daring aerial mission during World War II to kill Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy, architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Remarked one judge, “This story had me from the very beginning. What a lovely history lesson told beautifully.”
» Best Sports News Story, for a December story recounting the Charleston High School Tigers’ Class 2A state championship victory in varsity football.
» Best Lede, for the opening paragraph of a story about Miss Mississippi’s Emmie Perkins bringing her “Music is Medicine” tour to pre-K students in Tallahatchie County
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In a special competition among all weekly newspapers in the state, Sun-Sentinel Office Manager Krista McFerrin won a third-place award for Best Lifestyles Page or Section, for a series of Tallahatchie Life & Style page designs.
She also won a third-place honor for Best Personality Portrait, for a photo of Santa Claus joining in with a child to make dinosaur sounds during CARE’s Cookies with Santa.
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Clay and Krista McFerrin won a third-place award for Best Design of the newspaper.
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Clay McFerrin also won the following individual awards:
» Second place in the category of Best Front Page, for a series of Sun-Sentinel front page designs
» Second place for Best General News Photograph, portraying Miss Mississippi Emmie Perkins dancing with students at the Eva Covington Head Start Center
» Second place for Best Spot News Photograph, for a picture of a house fire near Charleston that displaced a family with four children
» Second place for Best Lede, for the opening paragraph of a story about active-shooter training in the West Tallahatchie School District
» Third place for Best In-Depth and Investigative Coverage, for a series of stories, editorials, columns, charts and photos chronicling the East Tallahatchie School District Board of Trustees’ firing of first-year Superintendent Marvell Hudson
» Third place for Best Editorials, for a series of opinion pieces
» Third place for Best Game Story, for the play-by-play account of Charleston High School’s Class 2A football championship win
» Third place for Best General Interest Column, for a series of personal opinion columns
» Third place for Best Spot News Photograph, for a photo depicting a bloodied Charleston police officer telling a sheriff’s deputy how he wrecked his city truck during a chase
» Honorable mention for Best Business News Story, about the Tutwiler Dollar General store’s planned reopening after a fire
» Honorable mention for Best Sports News Story, for the account of a local person winning their first boxing competition
» Honorable mention for Best Sports Feature Story, about a Tallahatchian competing in a coon hunting Youth World Championship
» Honorable mention for Best News Package, for a story and photo coverage of the dedication of the Tallahatchie General Hospital Extended Care Facility courtyard
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Combined with 16 earlier awards for advertising work — including first place for General Advertising Excellence — the latest honors bring to 37, the total number of MPA awards presented to The Sun-Sentinel this year. Thirteen of those awards have been first-place plaques.
