| Rank | NewspaperName | City | Author | Title | Judge's Comments |
| General News Reporting | |||||
| 1st | The Highlander | Highlands | Brian O'Shea | Man Drowns Saving Son | Well-rounded article on a tragic situation; explained the events very well and showed community impacts through various quotes. |
| 2nd | The Roanoke Beacon | Plymouth | Annette Pierce | Woman Charged In Robbery | Good details. |
| 3rd | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco & Barry Moore | Tragedy Strikes | Shows impact to & for community; keeps readers well informed of situation. |
| Online Breaking News | |||||
| 1st | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco & Rachel Healy | Con Agra Coverage | |
| News Feature Writing | |||||
| 1st | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco | A Jailed Father's Regret | A moving story about such a tragic event. I applaud Paul Tambasco for his willingness to tell the jailed father's side. |
| 2nd | Havelock News | Havelock | Drew C. Wilson | So Much Love | A very strong entry that would have won first place on any other year. A great story which fascinates us all: unsolved murders. |
| 3rd | The News of Orange County | Hillsborough | Josh Kastrinsky | Alvaro Castillo Trial | Quality in-depth coverage of evolving news story made this entry stand out. |
| Feature Writing | |||||
| 1st | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco | Taking The Leed | Very well-written piece! Tambasco's style made an easy read out of a complicated subject. Sidebars and information clouds improve an already great story. |
| 2nd | North Carolina Lawyers Weekly | Raleigh | Diana Smith | Lawyers As Peacemakers | It's obvious Smith spent a lot of time with this article. The hard work paid off for the reader! Smith's story is well-researched and well-written. |
| 3rd | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco | Wake Tech Students/Video Games | Tambasco personalizes this story about a broad topic. |
| Profile Feature | |||||
| 1st | Jamestown News | Jamestown | Carol Brooks | This Santa | This feature gives a neat and insightful look into the background and philosiphies of a very unique santa. Santa school info was very interesting. |
| 2nd | Crossroads Chronicle | Cashiers | Kelly Donaldson | Tons Of Tales | A sprawling story about an interesting person. With Crowe's varied background, I was carried away by a great read! A lot of work went into this interview/story. |
| 3rd | The Mecklenburg Times | Charlotte | Austin Light | Bookin It | A success story about a person who may not or would not have found success had it not been for his determination and loving family and friends. |
| News Enterprise Reporting | |||||
| 1st | The Nashville Graphic | Nashville | Amanda Clark | Great coverage, lots of detail, good graphics! | |
| 2nd | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco | ||
| 3rd | Tideland News | Swansboro | Liz Maclean | ||
| Investigative Reporting | |||||
| 1st | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco | Roadway Preacher | |
| 2nd | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco | Trash Investigation | |
| Sports News Reporting | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Ken Buday | Millea Equals Champion | Buday drew me into the wrestler's mind of his nervousness. |
| 2nd | The Apex Herald | Apex | Shawn Daley | Yow Touched Many Lives | Good job of showing the human side of sports & life. |
| 3rd | Crossroads Chronicle | Cashiers | Justin Caudell | Blue Ridge Parents Oppose Teams | Caudell fairly presented the reality that sports competition doesn't always start & end at the game. |
| Sports Feature Writing | |||||
| 1st | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Dave Thomas | Wca Fall Sports Preview | Strongly agree with "power & potential of youth." Good job of "preview" in category with many good writers. |
| 2nd | Tideland News | Swansboro | Rich Levey | A Day On The Coast | These children have a great story to accompany their memories of a fun day. |
| 3rd | Havelock News | Havelock | Ken Buday | Summer To Remember | Will probably go in more scrapbooks than any other article in this category. We all melt over these "remember" stories. Good job. |
| General News Photography | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Drew C. Wilson | Leatherneck Salute | A simple, yet timeless, shot of a US Marine's salute to the flag. American and patriotic all wrapped up in one! Great! |
| 2nd | The Farmville Enterprise | Farmville | Jacquelyn Drake | View From The Top | The unique angle makes this picture. |
| 3rd | Princeton News Leader | Princeton | Gray Whitley | Refreshing Dip | Interesting perspective of a child emerging from a pool on a summer day. |
| Feature Photography | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Drew C. Wilson | Trash Time | Wow! A well-thought out, well-composed photo. You don't know what it is at first, but you know it's interesting! Excellent! |
| 2nd | Lumina News | Wrightsville Beach | Allison Breiner | Surfers Healing | Great series of shots all-around. Love the man & little girl emerging from the surf and the surfer hugging the child. |
| 3rd | Havelock News | Havelock | Drew C. Wilson | Wing Walker | Glad Drew's not too afraid of heights to get a picture like this! |
| Sports Photography | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | David De Jetley | Using Your Head | Everything about this picture breathes "great picture!" From the cropping to the composition. Great! |
| 2nd | The Pender Post | Burgaw | Andy Pettigrew | That's Using Your Head | Perfect shot of a player's performance in a game. Love the emotion on her face. |
| 3rd | Crossroads Chronicle | Cashiers | Justin Caudell | Little League Rockies | The photo is just a touch out of focus, but that doesn't detract from the fact that it is a great action shot. |
| Photo Page | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Drew C. Wilson | Snow Day | The photographer had a good variety of shots and the action shots were particularly interesting. I would have liked to see a good close-up though. |
| 2nd | Crossroads Chronicle | Cashiers | Kelly Donaldson & Mike Henry | Cashiers Mountain Top | The photographers did a great job of capturing the event. A lot of the same shots were repeated and different angles might have helped. |
| 3rd | The Roanoke Beacon | Plymouth | Mary Wayt | A-Maze-Ing Corn | The photographer had a great concept. A variety of different shots might have helped tell the story better. |
| Best Video | |||||
| 1st | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco | A Father's Regrets | |
| 2nd | Havelock News | Havelock | Ken Buday | Nc 101 Repaving | |
| 3rd | Havelock News | Havelock | Ken Buday | Havelock Christmas Parade | |
| Best Use of an Interactive Feature | |||||
| 1st | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Barry E. Moore & Paul Tambasco | Remembering Alex Bryant | |
| 2nd | Havelock News | Havelock | Staff | Cherry Point Airshow | |
| 3rd | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Paul Tambasco & Rachel Healy | Citizen Symposium | |
| Best Multimedia Project | |||||
| 1st | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Staff | Conagra | The multimedia products all work well to help one better understand this tragic event. It is a complete package with these elements in place. |
| 2nd | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Rachel Healy & Jay Gross | Relay For Life | Excellent audio slideshow. This definitely puts the entire story into perspective. |
| 3rd | Havelock News | Havelock | Drew C. Wilson | Snow Storm | The video & photos tell the story. |
| Editorials | |||||
| 1st | Lumina News | Wrightsville Beach | Pat Bradford | My Thoughts | Outstanding work! |
| 2nd | Topsail Voice | Hampstead | Ken Clarke | Time To Grow Up | Relevant local editorials on variety of topics. Great community newspaper. |
| 3rd | The Mecklenburg Times | Charlotte | Amy Burroughs | City, Property Owners | Good balance on local, community issues. Strong writing style. |
| Lighter Columns | |||||
| 1st | The Highlander | Highlands | Melody Spurney | Dachshund; Collins; Cheeseburgers | Nice, interesting but light-hearted topics. Good length - did not lose reader interest. |
| 2nd | The Andrews Journal | Andrews | Joseph Chilton | Warn Me | Interesting topics. Nice, punchy, short sentence structure. |
| 3rd | The Highlander | Highlands | Eric Nesmith | Tea; Toddy; Twain | Good descriptive writing. |
| Serious Columns | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Ken Buday | Lessons; Tradition; Money | Everyone in our office had tears in their eyes after reading this moving tribute about a 12-year-old who died from cancer. The mark of a good writer is to show emotion. Buday succeeds admirably. |
| 2nd | The Pender Post | Burgaw | Jefferson Weaver | Angel; Death; Inside | Excellent columns but this loving column about his father made me sad to know I would not have the chance to ever meet the man. |
| 3rd | Havelock News | Havelock | Barry Fetzer | Testing; Respect; Downtown | Strong and well-written column about a topic relevent in todays world. |
| Sports Columns | |||||
| 1st | The Andrews Journal | Andrews | Joseph Chilton | Enthusiasm; Bigger; Stadium | Chilton had ideas and clearly expressed those ideas in his column. Interesting stuff. |
| 2nd | Duplin Times | Kenansville | Bill Rollins | Sportsbill | Rollins' columns were packed with history. Fun reads. |
| 3rd | The Graham Star | Robbinsville | Zelerie Rose | Exercise More Fun | Most of us can relate to the need to exercise! |
| Headline Writing | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Ken Buday | River; Bow; Giving | Catchy heads. Takes a lot of thought. |
| 2nd | The Times-Leader | Grifton | Jacquelyn Drake & Ginny Tyson | Bye, Bye Birdie; Omg; A-Maze-Ing | Good job! |
| 3rd | The Pender Post | Burgaw | Andy Pettigrew | Booze; Jaws Of Law; Hounds | The headlines tell me where the story is going. Thanks. |
| General Excellence Web Site | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Staff | Especially liked the "You Report It" feature. | |
| 2nd | The Garner Citizen News & Times | Garner | Rachel Healy | ||
| 3rd | Spring Hope Enterprise | Spring Hope | Ken Ripley | ||
| Appearance and Design | |||||
| 1st | The Perquimans Weekly | Hertford | Jerry Allison & Jenny Covault | July 8 & 15 | Good use of photos, consistent typography, good headlines that invite reader into story. |
| 2nd | TheAndrews Journal, | Andrews | Staff | October 16 & 23 | Good layout on front pages, nice clear photographs. |
| 3rd | Lumina News | Wrightsville Beach | Pat Bradford & Cissy Russell | July 16 & 23 | Nice use of color. Use more dominant headline on front page, especially with lead story. |
| Editorial Page | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Staff | Charitable; Allen; Notes | The page has an attractive layout with great use of space. Nice combination of entertaining columns and locally focused editorials. |
| 2nd | Duplin Times | Kenansville | Duplin Times Staff | 4/2; 4/16; 4/23 | Loved the layout for opposing viewpoints in the letters to the editor. The historic series was also a nice touch. |
| 3rd | The Andrews Journal | Andrews | Staff | December 4, April 2 & 16 | I enjoyed Laura Woodring's columns. The pairing of editorial subject with the op ed art. |
| Sports Coverage | |||||
| 1st | Topsail Voice | Hampstead | Ken Clarke & Staff | Nov 12 & 19 | VERY good! Like the wide range of sports coverage. Very exciting. |
| 2nd | Tideland News | Swansboro | Rich Levey | 11/12 & 11/05 | Wide coverage salute to the staff! Good pictures and stories. Sorry there can only be 1 first place. |
| 3rd | Havelock News | Havelock | Staff | 11/5 & 11/19 | |
| Use of Photographs | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Staff | 12/17 & 12/31 | Good layout and nice photos in these sections. There was a good variety with news and features. |
| 2nd | Crossroads Chronicle | Cashiers | Staff | 12/3;12/31 | Colorful layout and good variety made this paper stand out. It needs more sports action photography to balance things out. |
| 3rd | The Roanoke Beacon | Plymouth | Staff | 12/10 & 31 | Colorful layout but cropping of images would be better for design. |
| News Coverage | |||||
| 1st | Havelock News | Havelock | Staff | 5/6 & 5/13 | Nice combination of hard local news, news features and school news. Great use of headlines. |
| 2nd | Topsail Voice | Hampstead | Ken Clarke, Connie Pletl & Staff | May 13 & 20 | Nice in-depth coverage of local news. Generally well-written. |
| 3rd | Tideland News | Swansboro | Staff | 5/13 & 5/20 | Well-written articles. Good balance of hard news and news features. |
| Special Section | |||||
| 1st | The Mecklenburg Times | Charlotte | Staff | Most Influential Women | Direct staff involvement in production, interviews with multiple personalities. Style is good but pages look too much alike. |
| 2nd | The Mecklenburg Times | Charlotte | Staff | Healthcare Heroes | Clean layout, lots of staff effort. Style is good but pages look very much alike. |
| 3rd | The Highlander | Highlands | Staff | Leaf Season | Beautiful color photography. |
