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FRANKLIN

The Tidewater News has again won major awards in the Virginia Press Association’s annual recognition of excellence in advertising, design, journalism and photography for 2019. The announcements were made by the VPA through an online program this morning.

The first is the Advertising Sweepstakes in the Non-Daily 2 category, to which the paper belongs. This is the seventh consecutive win for the paper’s advertising department, led by Mitzi Lusk.

The second is the Grand Sweepstakes award in the Non-Daily 2 category. This makes the sixth time the newspaper has earned such an honor. The winners are determined by points earned by news added to those made by advertising. As online presenter Jason Roop stated, this is the “big award of the year.”

The newspaper was also a finalist for the News Sweepstakes in the Non-Daily 2 category.

Tony Clark, who led the newspaper through the end of the 2019 contest year said, “Serving as publisher of The Tidewater News was a tremendous honor and great joy, both personally and professionally.”

He added, “Having the staff once again be recognized for producing the best Virginia newspaper in its circulation class is befitting of their hard work, dedication and incredible talents. I’m so proud of this honor for them and the community they serve.”

Publisher Betty Ramsey had this to say, “The Tidewater News team exemplifies the qualities of an award-winning news staff and is so deserving of this honor. Under Tony Clark’s leadership they developed into a top-notch team that has repeatedly been recognized by their peers as best in their class. Congratulations to each of them: Mitzi Lusk, Stephen Cowles, Stephen Faleski, Retta Lomax, Michelle Gray and Tony Clark. Job well done!”