This photo by Art Smith of lightning over Front Street in Marietta in March 2024 won first place in Division 1 for Best News Photography. (File Photo)

From staff reports

CHARLESTON — The Parkersburg News and Sentinel took home 11 awards and tied for third place in General Excellence at the 2025 West Virginia Press Association Convention.

Held Oct. 11 at the University of Charleston, the event included awards for work done by newspapers around the state in 2024. The News and Sentinel competed in Division 1, which includes the West Virginia papers with the largest circulations.

The staff received first place awards for Best Editorial Page and Service to the Community, the latter for the annual cookbook contest in which readers submit recipes and the winners are selected by judges after a tasting party.

A campaign ad for Wood County Commissioner Blair Couch earned the newspaper’s advertising staff a first-place award for Best Political Ad.

Reporter Steven Allen Adams won first place in the Best Legal Affairs Reporting category for his coverage of the controversy surrounding changes in a mural at the state Capitol, including the insertion of then-Gov. Jim Justice’s popular pet Babydog into one of the images.

Art Smith took first place in Best News Photography by capturing a bolt of lightning splitting the sky over Front Street in Marietta in March 2024.

“Watching the work being done every day in the newsroom can make it easy to take for granted the quality of the reporters who work here,” Executive Editor Christina Myer said. “It is good to get reminders such as what we received during the awards banquet that our readers have outstanding people reporting and writing to bring them the news and community stories they need; and they are very good at it.”

The newspaper also received two second- and four third-place awards in the following categories:

* Best Governmental Affairs Reporting, second – Adams, for coverage of a West Virginia Board of Education meeting where members considered school closing and consolidation plans and discussed potential changes to the way the state funds schools.

* Best News Columnist, second – Myer, for her weekly column.

* Best Coverage of Breaking News, third – reporter Douglass Huxley, for his story on the Humane Society of Parkersburg’s efforts to care for and rehome 146 dogs removed from a Parkersburg residence in October 2024.

* Best In-Depth or Investigative Reporting, third – Adams, for stories about the West Virginia’s Department of Arts, Culture and History’s acquisition of a nearly $200,000 concert grand piano that circumvented state purchasing rules.

* Best Sports Photography, third – reporter Kerry Patrick, for a photo of Parkersburg High School’s Trinity Balog taking a shot during a January 2024 basketball game.

* Best Photo Essay, third – Smith, for a page comparing notes from George Washington’s survey of the Ohio River valley in the fall of 1770 with contemporary images of the sites.

The results from all of the editorial categories were tallied to determine the General Excellence winners. The News and Sentinel tied for third in Division 1 with The Register-Herald from Beckley.

“Congratulations to our staff on this recognition of their efforts to cover and serve the Mid-Ohio Valley,” News and Sentinel Publisher Jim Spanner said.