Congratulations to winners of the 2023 Better Newspaper Contest!

JEKYLL ISLAND, GA. – The Georgia Press Association honored winners of the 2023 Freedom of Information Award and the 2023 Better Newspaper Contest on Friday at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel during the group’s 136th annual convention.

The Elberton Star won the prestigious Freedom of Information Award for doing the most during 2022 to uphold the principles of the First Amendment and to protect the public’s right to know. The Star was honored for work investigating a political contribution made by Elbert Memorial Hospital — a contribution the public hospital later took back.

Two journalists under the age of 30 with less than five years of experience were honored with the Emerging Journalist Award. The daily newspaper winner was Hunter Riggall of the Marietta Daily Journal. The weekly newspaper winner was Liz Wright of The Augusta Press.

The photo of the year was taken by Beth Farrington for the Morgan County Citizen of Madison. It won the first-place award in the Spot News Photo category of the contest in Division D. It was then chosen from among all first-place photos as the overall photo winner. Farrington’s photo shows a fireman comforting a dog receiving oxygen after being rescued from a house fire in Morgan County last summer.

Winners in the Georgia Press Association Better Newspaper Contest were honored for their outstanding achievements in newspaper journalism. Entries were judged in six divisions based on circulation or in daily/weekly divisions. The daily divisions are Division A (circulation of 8,000 or more) and Division B (circulation less than 8,000). Weekly divisions are Division C (circulation 3,800-15,000), Division D (circulation 2,000-3,799), Division E (circulation less than 2,000) and Division F (all weekly newspapers of 15,000 or more and all associate media members).

There were 490 awards presented in 46 categories to 61 newspapers. Click here to see the complete list of winners: BNC Press Release 2023

2023 Photo of the Year: Emergency responders revive a dog rescued from a house fire. The photo was taken by Beth Farrington of the Morgan County Citizen in Madison and won first place in Division D of the Spot News Photo category. The dog, Patches, survived and was reunited with her owner.