BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
LEXINGTON — The Mountain Citizen brought home three awards for news excellence in the 2022 Kentucky Press Association news and advertising contest.
The KPA honors top talent in news and advertising across the Commonwealth each year during its annual convention. The 2022 Winter Convention was from Jan. 26-27 at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington.
Publications are separated into award divisions based on circulation and frequency. This year, weekly publications were divided into three divisions based on circulation, with Weekly 1 being the lowest and Weekly 3 being the highest. The Mountain Citizen competed in the Weekly 3 division.
Sports writer and columnist Kyle Lovern won second place in the Best Sports Feature Story category for his article “Robin Harmon Newsome one of Kentucky’s best.”
The article features Martin County sports icon, Robin Harmon Newsome, taking a retrospective look at her career from being one of the first and best female basketball players in the state through her coaching the Lady Cards to a 57th District Championship title last season.
“Kyle brings decades of experience and skill to our newspaper,” Citizen publisher Roger Smith said of Lovern.
Lisa Stayton, Smith and Rachel Dove took home a silver medal for Best Investigative Story or Series for their co-written story “Pigeon Roost residents live in fear of next heavy rain.”
The trio used this article to highlight the unintended consequences of logging in Martin County. Worsened by improper reclamation techniques, excessive deforestation and stream sedimentation in the Pigeon Roost area, rainwater rose to dangerous levels last year causing damage to homes and infrastructure.
“The residents featured in our article received no resolution or help from local or state government,” Stayton said. “And our award is no consolation to Pigeon Roost, but we’re glad their story impressed the judges at the Illinois Press Association. The investigative piece was a great team effort. Rachel and Roger have about 70 years of combined experience in investigative reporting.”
Phill Barnett placed second in the Best Use of Social Media or Multi-Media category for his two-part coverage of Noah Thompson’s first single release post-American Idol. The single was a cover of Rihanna’s “Stay,” which Thompson performed to great acclaim on his way to victory in the world-famous reality singing competition.
The Mountain Citizen published an interview with Thompson in print and digitally on MountainCitizen.com, accompanied by a YouTube video. At the time of press, the video interview had over 87,000 views on the Mountain Citizen YouTube page.
“Phill is multi-talented and brings a fresh voice to our newspaper,” Citizen publisher Roger Smith said. “We’re lucky to have him on our team.”
This year was the Mountain Citizen’s first time competing in the Kentucky Press Association contest and attending the convention in several years.
“We would like to thank everyone on the Mountain Citizen web, news and advertising teams for making 2022 a success, as well as our sponsors for keeping independent journalism alive in eastern Kentucky,” said Smith. “But first and foremost, we couldn’t have done it without you, the reader. Thank you.”
Smith says to look for the newspaper to have more contest entries next year.