The Dispatch took home 18 awards, including second in General Excellence and five first-place honors in its class, during the Mississippi Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest Saturday.
The awards recognized work completed in 2023.
Former business reporter Grant McLaughlin, who has since left The Dispatch to work at the Clarion Ledger, received two first-place awards in the categories of planned series and business story.
McLaughlin also received third place honors for news package, and he shared a third-place general news reporting honor with Managing Editor Zack Plair. Plair also placed third in the in-depth or investigative reporting category and earned two honorable mentions, one for general news story and one for editorials.
News and Lifestyles Editor Abigail Sipe Rochester received first-place honors in the category of in-depth or investigative reporting. She also placed second in the feature photo category and third for the Lifestyles page category.
Mississippi State athletics beat reporter Benjamin Rosenberg also placed first in the sports news story category.
The Dispatch also took home first place in the lede category. A lede is an opening paragraph of a news story. The Dispatch also earned second-place honors in the Special Section category with the Spring 2023 edition of Progress magazine and second-place in the front page category.
Other winners included Philip Poe, second place, sports column; Peter Imes, second place, commentary column; Deanna Robinson, second place, photo series; and Slim Smith, second and third place, editorials.
Dispatch Publisher Peter Imes was also named the vice president of the board of directors of the MPA during the award ceremony. He was previously the treasurer. The board president is George “Russell” Turner of the Greene County Herald in Leakesville.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
