SNAP picks up two awards at North Carolina Press Association ceremony

Published 9:49 pm Thursday, March 21, 2019

The Stanly News & Press received two awards at the North Carolina Press Association’s 2018 awards ceremony Thursday night in Raleigh.

In Division C, which is community newspapers with a circulation of more than 10,000, sports editor Charles Curio won third place in the Sports News Reporting category for “North wins 49-0 over South, brings home Stanly Cup.” Former news editor Ritchie Starnes won second place in the Sports Enterprise Writing category for “Encroachment – Verbal abuse often keeps younger officials away.”

Starnes is now editor of The Daily Courier in Forest City.

“I’m honored to he a recipient of the NCPA’s annual editorial awards,” Starnes said. “But more importantly, I hope the story had an impact on the growing plight of recruiting future generations for youth sports.”

“I’m very happy that I’m able to represent Stanly News & Press and all of our subscribers and all of our readers and everyone at the office,” Curcio said. “We try very hard every day to cover the news, cover the sports and keep people informed of what’s going on in our county.”

Publisher Roger Watson said it was great to be recognized at this level.

“It’s always great to have our community journalism recognized on the state level by judges who compliment our work, and our readers compliment our work by purchasing our product every day,” Watson said.

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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