JEKYLL ISLAND — The Valdosta Daily Times, for the sixth year in a row, is the best newspaper in its class.

Winning 26 awards, the VDT brought home First Place in General Excellence from the Georgia Press Association’s 2023 Better Newspaper Contest held Friday at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

Amassing the highest award point totals in its division, the VDT finished in the top spot, followed by the Athens Banner Herald in Second Place and the LaGrange Daily News in Third Place.

The Daily Times garnered top honors for community service, local news coverage, editorial writing, sports photography, column writing, enterprise reporting and feature writing.

The Community Service Award recognizes the newspaper that does the most throughout the year to serve its community through strong reporting, commentary and publishing journalism that matters. The Times was honored this year for its reporting series and editorials focused on the state’s prison system, the lack of transparency by the Department of Corrections and the high number of inmate deaths.

Previously this year, the newspaper received the Community Service Award from its parent company, CNHI, LLC, in the Best of CNHI awards for the same series.

The Georgia Press Association Local News Coverage Award recognizes the newspaper that provides the best overall news coverage of its readership area.

Jim Zachary received both First Place and Second Place for Editorial Writing and the newspaper received First Place for its editorial pages. Dean Poling brought home First Place honors for Serious Column Writing. Zachary came in Second in the Serious Column Writing category.

Shane Thomas was feted for First and Second Place in Best Sports Photo category, while getting Third Place for Sports Column Writing and Sports Coverage.

Social Justice and state reporter Asia Ashley won First Place awards for Enterprise Reporting and Feature Writing.

Mary Beth Yeary and Nadia Harris won Second Place for Layout and Design.

The newspaper received both Second Place and Third Place honors for its Page One, while earning Second Place for Layout and Design and Headline Writing. The Times earned third place certificates for Lifestyles Coverage and Sports Section.

Terry Richards earned Second Place for Breaking News Writing and Third Place for Business Writing, Best Use of Graphics and Enterprise Reporting.

The Valdosta Daily Times Scene Magazine, edited by Brittanye Blake, won Second Place awards for Magazine Cover Design and Magazine Themed Issue.

Sister newspapers, CNHI’s Tifton Gazette and Moultrie Observer, also received First Place in General Excellence in their respective divisions.

The Georgia Press Association said in a press release following the award ceremony that the 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.

The top winners, by division, were:

General Excellence: Division A: 1st Place, The Brunswick News

General Excellence: Division A: 2nd Place, Savannah Morning News

General Excellence: Division A: 3rd Place, Marietta Daily Journal

General Excellence: Division B: 1st Place, The Valdosta Daily Times

General Excellence: Division B: 2nd Place, Athens Banner-Herald

General Excellence: Division B: 3rd Place, LaGrange Daily News

General Excellence: Division C: 1st Place, The Walton Tribune, Monroe

General Excellence: Division C: 2nd Place, Monroe County Reporter, Forsyth

General Excellence: Division C: 3rd Place, The Dahlonega Nugget

General Excellence: Division D: 1st Place, The Moultrie Observer

General Excellence: Division D: 2nd Place, Morgan County Citizen, Madison

General Excellence: Division D: 3rd Place, The Covington News

General Excellence: Division E: 1st Place, The Tifton Gazette

General Excellence: Division E: 2nd Place, The Journal, Buena Vista

General Excellence: Division E: 3rd Place, Jefferson Reporter/News & Farmer, Louisville

General Excellence: Division F: 1st Place, Smoke Signals, Big Canoe

General Excellence: Division F: 2nd Place, Appen Media Group Inc.

“Our greatest honor is being able to serve a community that we care about deeply,” Zachary said. “We are so appreciative of the support we receive from Valdosta, Lowndes County and South Georgia and readers honor us every day by logging on to the newspaper website or bringing the print edition in their homes.”

Poling, Times executive editor, added to earn First Place General Excellence is a reflection on the commitment of the entire Valdosta Daily Times staff on a daily basis, whether in the print editions or online.

“This award is due to the hard work and dedication of each person on The Valdosta Daily Times team,” he said.

Publisher Laurie Gay said, “I am so proud of our team and the commitment they show to our community each day. Our goal is always to be the leading source of information for our community and to provide news you can trust, along with advertising products that will help our business community grow.”