Jackson Free Press

The Jackson Free Press took first, second and third places in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Awards, which were just announced at the convention in Portland, Ore.

Casey Parks' columns on Africa won third place in the columns category. Her columns were "Pity Would Be No More" and "Mississippi: America's Africa" and "There Is No Other."

Brian Johnson, Donna Ladd and Adam Lynch took second place in the investigative reporting category for their coverage of Mayor Frank Melton in numerous stories in 2006.

Brian Johnson won first place in features for his story about Cedric Willis, "Deepest Midnight: Cedric Willis and the Failure of Mississippi Justice."

The JFP was named as a finalist in all three categories in early May but did not learn how it placed in each category until this afternoon.

The winners were chosen from among 1,481 entries from 125 weekly newspapers around the country.

The JFP has won 14 national AAN awards in four years. Last year, Adam Lynch won first place for newswriting, short form, and Donna Ladd won second place in investigative reporting for her 2005 series on the Charles Moore and Henry Dee case.

Previous Commentsshow

Congratulations to you all. Well deserved!

JenniferGriffin

Jun 15 2007

Woo, hoo! Go, Brian. They read aloud the judge's comments about Brian's great lead about the night Cedric was arrested, not to return home for 12 years. This national honor is also shared with Cedric himself. ;-)

DonnaLadd

Jun 15 2007

WJTV Channel 12 is reporting that councilman Ben Allen checked himself into a hospital after suffering chest pains today. The hospital he checked into was not disclosed. Let's pray for him.

blu_n_a_redstate

Jun 15 2007

Congratulations to everyone!

LatashaWillis

Jun 15 2007

Congratulations to everyone! Blu, I posted you comment here.

LatashaWillis

Jun 15 2007

Wow! This seems like a big deal. Congratulations to all!

BKS

Jun 16 2007

Thanks, BKS. It is very meaningful to us, especially considering who the judges are. There is nothing sweeter than being honored by peers of that level! ;-)

DonnaLadd

Jun 16 2007

You Big Time Winners might get a movie deal out of this. Congratulations and the honors are well deserved.

justjess

Jun 18 2007

Brian did some great story telling and writing in that Cedric Willis column. Not surprised he won. We love the work you all do. Too bad there is not a comedy section since Frank would provide such good materials for that part.

Ray Carter

Jun 18 2007

Thanks for your kind words, all. I have honestly been floating a bit ever since Donna told me the news--I am thrilled that more people are going to have a chance to read Cedric's story because of this award. I can never thank Cedric enough for sharing his story with me. He submitted to at least a dozen interviews lasting a couple hours each time. I also have to thank Donna, who helped me take all of those interviews and shape them into the final story. Her insistence on greater detail was crucial, and Cedric's vivid memory of details, once I started pressing him, was remarkable. Also, congratulations to Casey for her Africa columns, and to Adam and Donna for our co-win on investigating Melton. I was worried they might not grasp how we've led the charge on all that is wrong with this administration considering how many stories were involved--we couldn't even include all the entries we would have liked--but the judges clearly understood what scrappy, unflagging work we've done. Of course, Donna was pretty much the lone voice crying in the wilderness about Melton before he was even elected. And it ain't over yet.

Brian C Johnson

Jun 18 2007

Congrats on the award for covering the mayor too. You all won first place in our minds on that too, here in Jackson. Brian, the key to not doing re-writes is to do it right the first time. Donna looks the teacher/editor type who will make you write it over and over again. I wore all my teachers down when trying to teach me English and grammar. After a while they all realized they wouldn't be able to teach anyone else or remain sane unless they passed me along without too much time wasted. They were no matches for my cousins who would criticize me for using proper language or big words such as "about to" instead of "fin to." You know, about to go to the store instead of fin to go to the store.

Ray Carter

Jun 18 2007

You all should be justifiably proud of this prestigious award. You have some great reporters and writers there and you all do a phenomenal job. I not only look forward to reading the JFP each week, it is mandatory reading for those who want and need to keep up with what his going on in Jackson and city government. You all have raised the bar for all reporting and strengthened the entire media community. The fact that you are a little weekly newspaper that most didn't expect to survive and here you are thriving and leading the pack is unprecedented. Congratulations.

John Parker

Jun 18 2007

I can't remember the last time I said or heard anyone else say "fin to". LOL

LatashaWillis

Jun 18 2007

Thank you, John. That is big and special coming from you—a leader in the local media community on real news coverage. Cheers.

DonnaLadd

Jun 19 2007

Brian, the key to not doing re-writes is to do it right the first time. Ray, I respectfully disagree. You're not supposed to write something well the first time. All you're doing is giving yourself the clay to then mold in the re-writes. Writing is rewriting. Mediocre writing nearly always results when people don't think they should have to re-write. I use Brian's Cedric piece to teach in my writing classes for this very reason. It's a wonderful example of the magic that happens when you're willing to go back and go back to add more details and structure and add/subtract until you have an award-winning story. As I tell my writing students about his piece: Be willing to ask about the sneakers. If you're not, you should go into another profession.

DonnaLadd

Jun 19 2007

All, we have just scheduled a JFP book signing/awards party at Lemuria.com building (next to Banner Hall) on June 29 at 5 p.m. Adam will be reading from and signing the brand-new book "Best AltWeekly Writing and Design 2006," which his first-place news stories from last year are reprinted in. We will also sell signed copies of the 2005 "Best AltWeekly" book (which featured work by Ayana Taylor and me). And we will celebrate Brian's first-place 2007 feature-writing award that night with him reading the Cedric piece (which will be in the 2007 book when it comes out). (And if you get really lucky, maybe Adam, Brian and I will act out one of the ride-along-with-Melton stories that helped us win the second-place investigative reporting award this year. No promises, though!) We'll have snacks, wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages. Admission is free. Please come help us celebrate this very exciting national recognition of our staff and our city (and all you bloggers know how important you are to our work. This is for you, too!)

DonnaLadd

Jun 19 2007

Sounds like fun, Donna. Lately, I've had this "issue" with being out when the sun starts to set, but maybe I can actually show up for something this time. We'll see. :-)

LatashaWillis

Jun 19 2007

I know Donna. I was just messing with Brian. My writing teacher once told me personally the same thing.

Ray Carter

Jun 19 2007

I meant she told me in class the same thing.

Ray Carter

Jun 19 2007

I know, Ray. ;-)

DonnaLadd

Jun 20 2007

the awards party sounds great - I'll plan on being there. Congrats to everyone!

Izzy

Jun 20 2007

i'd like to come to that party, too. sounds like fun and a great way to celebrate your hard work that paid off!! congratulations!

music chick

Jun 20 2007

Wish we could be there. We'll be headed back up to Kentucky that evening. Hope it goes well, and y'all have a lot of fun!

Lady Havoc

Jun 22 2007

party was great & karaoke even better. the "can't touch this" late night rendition truly truly priceless. my sides split laughing & then nientara & her possee rocked the beasite boys. wonder if most of those of us there are even up yet? mr. johnson?

Izzy

Jul 1 2007

We're up, but it wasn't a jump-out-of-bed morning, that's for sure! And who know Adam Lynch would turn out to be such a karaoke king. ;-) My favorite was the cowboy-hatted rendition of "On the Road Again" by our award-winning investigative crew. Amazing. Brian will be missed.

DonnaLadd

Jul 1 2007

Glad you guys had fun. Will you have pictures?

LatashaWillis

Jul 1 2007