FRANKLIN
On Saturday night, staff members of The Tidewater News attended the Virginia Press Association Awards Banquet in Richmond, where they once again received the association’s highest award for the year 2016. The VPA started giving out the Grand Sweepstakes award four years ago, and The Tidewater News has walked away with the top prize in its circulation class, Non-Daily 1, each time. The newspaper also won the News Sweepstakes award for 2012 when it was the top prize available.

Publisher Tony Clark said, “I always look forward to the VPA awards because it is another opportunity for our staff to receive well-deserved accolades for their hard work. To have received the Association’s top honor for five consecutive years is incredibly humbling. But we don’t do what we do for the awards; we do it to provide our readers and advertisers with a product of value. That is what we strive for every day.”

Advertising Director Mitzi Lusk said, “Kudos to our advertising department on our fourth consecutive win of the Advertising Sweepstakes. We have an amazing, dedicated and creative in-house design staff who go beyond what’s expected to bring our readers and advertisers top-notch, award winning ads.

“A huge thank you goes out to lead designer Ryan Outlaw, Loretta Lomax and Crystal Parker on their exceptional work. And, to our marketing consultants Sameerah Brown and Rachel Parker, it’s a pleasure to have such a fine team to work with every day.”