It was a good night for The Dahlonega Nugget at the Better Newspaper Awards banquet as Team Nugget snagged nine Georgia Press Association Awards throughout the evening on Friday, June 3.
And most of the team members were there to pick up those awards as well since much of The Nugget staff was on hand for the dinner and awards show at the century-old Jekyll Island Club Resort.
Top winner on staff was once again Jake Cantrell who had another solid showing as he nabbed first place finishes in Sports Coverage, Education Writing and Serious Column.
“There's a fine line separating reporting and story telling,” stated the judge of Cantrell’s sports submissions. “Both are good, but the storytelling draws the reader in and that's what these articles do.”
As the first place winner for the category of Serious Column, Cantrell was the recipient of the Otis Brumby Trophy just a year after he won the Joe Parham Trophy for Humorous Column.
His submitted serious columns included a rebuke of the anti-coaching sentiment that seemed to color last season for certain Lumpkin County sports.
“You are right - we hate our coaches when they don't win,” stated the judge. “This column reminds one of humanity. It makes the coach human and you feel sorry for him. The public is a hard sell and unless one is winning, they are not on your side. Great story.”
Cantrell also took second place in the category of Sports Column.
Meanwhile, Publisher Matt Aiken finished third in the Serious Column category. He also netted a second place award for Humorous Column.
“Great job in entertaining us with your stories,” said the judge.
Aiken also took first place overall for Feature Writing.
“Cream of the crop,” stated the judge. “Very tight race in places 2nd through 5th, but Matt Aiken's variety of subjects, and his handling of them, rose to the top.”
Aiken also won the first place Albert & Dorothy Jenkins Trophy for best use of graphics or illustration for the front-page side-by-side photos which featured local student Nic Anderson’s first day of kindergarten and his last day of high school.
News Editor John Bynum was key in the design of that front-page. He also netted a second place award for Best Magazine Overall Design, for his work creating Dahlonega Magazine. Bynum won third place for Layout & Design as well.
“They don’t do acceptance speeches at the GPA awards. Which is probably a good thing because I can talk for a long time,” said Aiken. “But if they did, I would like to thank you, our readers and our subscribers for all the support. Because you’re the people who really make it all worthwhile.”
