One of the 52 issues of the Bladen Journal that were judged in this year’s North Carolina Press Association journalism contest.
HEADING TO THE NCPA CONVENTION
RALEIGH – The results are in, and thanks to judges from the Nebraska Press Association and numerous volunteers across the nation who contributed, we have winners to announce.
For the first time since COVID, the Bladen Journal has come away with awards for content published from April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025. After the long drought, the North Carolina Press Association is recognizing the talent and content of the Bladen Journal and have awarded seven individual awards.
NCPA will send out a full press release of all winners on the night of the awards banquet.
We plan to announce all winners, including general excellence, on 9/19 at the NCPA Annual Convention. This year’s convention will be held at the Embassy Suites in Cary. We will have a full day of sessions, training, networking, and a reception to kick off the evening.
This year’s Bladen Journal winners are, Dee Dee Prevatte who came away with a first-place award for online advertising and also a second-place award for online advertising, Thecia DeLap took a third-place award for the light-column category for her column “Recipes from the editor’s wife…” Mark DeLap came away with four individual awards including a first-place award for photo page and essay entitled “And they call the thing rodeo.” He took two second-place awards in the categories of special sections for his article and photos in the White Lake Water Festival tab, and in the category of feature photography, his photo of a dragonfly in “Eating his fill of mosquitoes.”
He placed third in the state for his use of social media entitled “Our Facebook Frenzy.” Before coming to North Carolina, DeLap has won awards from the Minnesota State Press Association, the Iowa State Press Association, the Wyoming State Press Association (including being awarded a General Excellence Award for the best weekly newspaper in Wyoming) and the National Newspaper Association.
There are 260 newspapers in the state of North Carolina and the Bladen Journal was entered in Division A where literally thousands of entries were judged.
Thank you for participating in the NCPA contest. Congratulations and Good luck at this week’s NCPA convention on the overall newspaper awards.