CHAPEL HILL -- The News & Observer won numerous N.C. Press Association awards this year, including eight first place awards and the prestigious Public Service award for the investigative series "Agents' Secrets."
The awards were presented Thursday evening at The Carolina Club on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.
The first-place awards are:
Online breaking news, "First day of Easley hearings wraps up," staff.
Profile feature, "Mad Men of the Web," Josh Shaffer.
Investigative reporting, "Agents' Secrets," Joe Neff and Mandy Locke.
Sports feature writing, Luke DeCock.
General news photography, Shawn Rocco.
Illustration/photo illustration, Tim Lee.
Best video, "Agents' Secrets: A confession doesn't add up," Travis Long and Shawn Rocco.
Multimedia project, "Agents' Secrets: Junk science, tainted testimony," staff.
Second-place awards went to photographer Chris Seward; graphic artist Tim Lee; news reporters Andy Curliss, Eric Ferreri, T. Keung Hui and Thomas Goldsmith; researcher David Raynor; and sports writers Ken Tysiac, Robbi Pickeral and J.P. Giglio.
Third-place awards went to: photographer Ethan Hyman; news reporter Josh Shaffer; and sports reporter Luke DeCock. The paper also won a third place for the "Helping Haiti" special section published in the wake of the earthquake last winter.
The first-place public service award was for "Agents' Secrets," the four-part series about lapses at the State Bureau of Investigation lab.
Reporters Mandy Locke and Anne Blythe received the Media and the Law Award from the N.C. Bar Association for their work on the story about Greg Taylor, a man wrongly convicted of murder who was exonerated last year.
The N&O's community newspapers won several awards, too.
The Cary News:
First place - Ted Richardson, general news photo; and J. Mike Blake, sports columns.
Second place - Ted Richardson, profile feature; Sadia Latifi, education reporting; J. Mike Blake, sports news; and Paul A. Specht, sports feature.
Third place - Staff, appearance and design.
The [Smithfield] Herald:
First place - Scott Bolejack, editorials.
Second place - D. Clay Best, sports columns.
Third place - Sarah Nagem, general news reporting; Sarah Nagem, education reporting; Colin Campbell, investigative reporting; and Scott Bolejack, editorial page.
The Chapel Hill News:
First place - Harry Lynch and Shane Snider, photo page, "Day in the Life of Franklin Street."
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