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The Tidewater News was honored with the Grand Sweepstakes and Advertising Sweepstakes awards by the Virginia Press Association for the 2020 contest year.

The awards were announced through a virtual ceremony Thursday morning. The program was held virtually for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publisher Betty Ramsey had this to say: “It’s a great honor to be recognized by your peers as the best of the best in your class. In spite of the many challenges the year has presented, The Tidewater News team stepped up, put in the time and did what they do best — community journalism. This is an amazing group of people that really know how to pull together. When I congratulated designer Retta Lomax on her first-place wins and the sweepstakes award, she replied, ‘I strongly believe that teamwork makes dream work.’ I couldn’t agree more!

“Our advertising customers could not be in better hands than with Advertising Director Mitzi Lusk  — just take a look at the long list of wins in advertising, and it’s easy to see that she always goes above and beyond to make sure customers receive an advertising campaign that will bring them results. Rounding out our team for the 2020 year are reporters Stephen Faleski and Stephen Cowles and office manager Michelle Gray. These well-deserved awards are a result of outstanding teamwork, and I’m honored and blessed to work with this team.”

The Tidewater News competes in the VPA’s Non-Daily 2 category against other papers throughout the state with circulations ranging from 2,300 to 4,999 that publish from one to three times per week. The awards were judged by journalists and advertising professionals from the Maryland, Delaware and D.C. Press Association.

This is the eighth time The Tidewater News has won the Advertising Sweepstakes and the seventh time it has won the Grand Sweepstakes.

The Advertising Sweepstakes award honors the newspaper that wins the most points across all categories in the advertising contest. First-place awards receive three points, followed by second-place awards receiving two points and third-place receiving one point.

The Grand Sweepstakes award combines points accrued by the newspaper in the news and advertising contests.

Below are the awards won by The Tidewater News staff:

First Place

• Automotive Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Digital Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Education, Churches, and Organizations Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Food and Drug Advertising — Loretta Lomax
• Home and Garden — Mitzi Lusk
• Lifestyles Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Multiple Advertisers and Themed Pages — Mitzi Lusk
• Front Page — Loretta Lomax
• Page Design — Loretta Lomax

Second Place

• Automotive Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Digital Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Education, Churches, and Organizations Advertising — Loretta Lomax
• Fashion and Personal Care Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Food and Drug Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Home and Garden Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Member Self-Promotion — Loretta Lomax
• Multiple Advertisers and Themed Pages — Mitzi Lusk
• Professional Services Advertising (medical and healthcare-related only) — Loretta Lomax
• Real Estate Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Small Space Ads — Mitzi Lusk
• Government Writing — Stephen Faleski

Third Place

• Automotive Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Digital Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Education, Churches, and Organizations Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Fashion and Personal Care Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Food and Drug Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Member Self-Promotion — Loretta Lomax
• Multiple Advertisers and Themed Pages — Mitzi Lusk
• Real Estate Advertising — Mitzi Lusk
• Small Space Ads — Mitzi Lusk
• General News Photo — Stephen Cowles
• Government Writing — Stephen Cowles