Special to the Opelika Observer
Select winners of the 2017 Alabama Press Association Better Newspaper Contest were announced today by Dee Ann Campbell, chairman of the APA Better Newspaper Contest Committee. This year, seventy-four newspapers submitted 2,753 entries in the annual contest. Articles and photos by Observer staff brought home five awards.
The Better Newspaper Contest was judged by the Georgia Press Association and the awards will be presented July 8 at the 2017 APA Summer Convention at the Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, Ala.
“Changing City Streets” by Nickolaus Hines won first place in the Best In-Depth News Coverage category. Hines also won third place in the category for his article “When free is not free: An in-depth look at downtown Opelika’s ‘free’ wireless internet.”
Observer Staff Reporter Morgan Bryce won second place in the Best Business Story or Column category for his article “Virtual reality arcade to open downtown.” Associate editor Rebekah Martin won third place in the same category for her article “We all scream for ice cream: O Town Ice Cream scheduled to open downtown later this month.”
Finally, Observer staff photographer Robert Noles placed second in the Best Sports Photo category for his photograph entitled “Dawg Defense.”