Birmingham Business Journal, Birmingham News, Shelby County Reporter win multiple awards
The Alabama Press Association named its winners in the 2010 Better Newspaper Contest. The South Carolina Press Association judged 2,525 entries from 64 newspapers.
The Birmingham News and the Shelby County Reporter won for overall General Excellence in their respective divisions.
The awards ceremony takes place June 5 in Orange Beach.
Listed below are winners from the Birmingham area. The complete list is available online.
Update May 5: The Birmingham News has links to several winning entries.
2010 General Excellence Winners
Division A
- 1st place: The Birmingham News
Division C
- 1st place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana)
FOI – First Amendment Award
Division C
- 1st place: Birmingham Business Journal for “On the road” by Jimmy DeButts
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “In your neighborhood” by staff
Most Improved
Division A
- The Birmingham News
Division C
- Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana)
Best Presswork
Division A
- 2nd place: The Birmingham News
Division C
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana)
Category 1 — Best Editorial Page or Section
Division A
- 2nd place: The Birmingham News
Division C
- 1st place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana)
- 2nd place: Birmingham Business Journal
Category 2 — Best Lifestyle/Family Pages
Division A
- 2nd place: The Birmingham News
Division C
- 1st place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana)
Category 4 — Best Layout and Design
Division A
- 1st place: The Birmingham News
Division C
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana)
Category 5 — Best Local Economic Coverage
Division A
- 2nd place: The Birmingham News
Division C
- 1st place: Birmingham Business Journal
Category 6 — Best Local Education Coverage
Division A
- 2nd place: The Birmingham News
Division C
- 2nd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana)
Category 7 — Best Local News Coverage
Division A
- 1st place: The Birmingham News
Division C
- 1st place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana)
Category 8 — Best Use of Photographs/Editorial Content
Division A
- 1st place: The Birmingham News
Category 9 — Best Spot News Story
Division A
- 3rd place: The Birmingham News for “Langford Guilty” by staff
Division C
- 2nd place: The Shelby County Reporter for “Fire destroys apartment building” by Samantha Hurst
Category 10 — Best In-Depth News Coverage
Division C
- 2nd place: Birmingham Business Journal for “The Dome” by Lauren B. Cooper
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter for “Limestone quarry project” by staff
Category 11 — Best Business Story or Column
Division A
- 3rd place: The Birmingham News for “Behind the music at HealthSouth” by Michael Tomberlin
Division C
- 1st place: Birmingham Business Journal for “Economy’s heat drying up community banks profits” by Crystal Jarvis
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter for “Shopping centsibly” by Samantha Hurst
Category 12 — Best Feature Story
Division C
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “Haven for hats” by Samantha Hurst
Category 13 — Best News Feature Story
Division A
- 1st place: The Birmingham News for “Behind the Painted Wall” by Greg Garrison
Category 14 — Best Editorial
Division A
- 1st place: The Birmingham News for “Operation chaos” by Bob Blalock
Division C
- 2nd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “Hoover Hospital needed” by staff
Category 15 — Best Humorous Column
Division A
- 1st place: The Birmingham News for “The naked truth: Blame it on a full moon” by John Archibald
Category 16 — Best Human Interest Column
Division A
- 1st place: The Birmingham News for “As easy as brain surgery” by Kathy Kemp
Division C
- 2nd place: Birmingham Business Journal for “The health care debate comes home” by Cindy Crawford
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “America as I knew it” by Cassandra Mickens
Category 17 — Best Editorial Column or Commentary
Division A
- 3rd place: The Birmingham News for “Pro-life meets health care reform” by Robin DeMonia
Category 18 — Best Sports News In-Depth Coverage
Division C
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “No longer at home” by Chris Megginson
Category 19 — Best Sports Single Event Story
Division A
- 2nd place: The Birmingham News for “Tide blocks Vols’ upset bid” by Don Kausler Jr. and Doug Segrest
Category 20 — Best Sports Feature Story
Division A
- 2nd place: The Birmingham News for “20 years after the move” by Kevin Scarbinsky
Division C
- 1st place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “Relaxing on Lay Lake” by Wesley Hallman
Category 26 — Best Photo Essay
Division C
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “Family Fest” by staff
Category 27 — Best Use of Graphics or Illustrations
Division C
- 2nd place: Birmingham Business Journal for “Birmingham’s wealthiest zip codes” by Ty West
- 3rd place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “In your neighborhood” by Cassandra Mickens
Category 28 — Best Headline
Division A
- 2nd place: The Birmingham News for “Flush with pride, Birmingham-Southern wins lavatory laurel” by Nichele Hoskins
- 3rd place: The Birmingham News for “Jesus Christ makes jury pool, but judges not” by Greg Richter
Division C
- 2nd place: Birmingham Business Journal for “Irondale hoping it’s in good hands with Allstate bonds” by Craig Ey
Category 29 — Best Special Section
Division A
- 3rd place: The Birmingham News for “Football U 2009 Preview” by staff
Division C
- 1st place: Shelby County Reporter (Columbiana) for “24 Hours in Shelby County” by staff
- 3rd place: Birmingham Business Journal for “Top 40 under 40” by Ty West
Category 30 — Best Niche Publication
Division C
- 2nd place: Birmingham Business Journal for “Book of Lists 2010” by staff
Best Newspaper Web Site and Story of the Year
To be announced June 5.
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Media of Birmingham 
Regarding the award to the Shelby County Reporter for the best story “The Limestone Quarry Project” I beg to differ. Much of the information they used came straight from the quarry PR sources. Citizens made numerous attempts to have information included in the SCRs coverage only to be rebuffed for the most part.
The paper also rewrote their commenting guidelines and began practicing severe censorship on the same. It’s clear they had an agenda. Maybe that had something to do with the huge revenues that will benefit the county, with none of the risk.
Maybe it also has to do with the fact that the newspaper editor is also president of the economic development arm of the county.
The point is, that the paper’s coverage of this issue was biased and selective at best. That is hardly, journalistic integrity in my opinion.
This is simply a listing of winners picked by the Alabama Press Association. Media of Birmingham has no say in the process.
I suggest you contact the APA and the newspaper directly, rather than air your grievances on unrelated sites such as this one.