Lagniappe Wins 13 State Media Awards

The Lagniappe news team took home 13 prizes at this year’s Alabama Press Association Media Awards, including the First Amendment Award, Best Public Service, Best Local News Coverage, Best Local Economic Coverage, Best Editorial Column or Commentary, and Best Sports Feature Story in the “Large Weekly Newspaper” category. Writers Dale Liesch, Brady Petree and Kyle Hamrick won one of the biggest awards of the night, the First Amendment Award, for coverage of the death of Mobile’s Jawan Dallas after an encounter with police that resulted in multiple deployments of a stun gun. Writer Scott Johnson was awarded second place in that same category for his series of stories on the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office’s use of overtime. Staffers also won first place in the “Public Service” category for a cover story called “Drinks are on us — State ABC signs ‘generous’ leases for liquor stores.” Sports Editor Tommy Hicks won Best Sports Feature Story for “Basketball bounces differently at ASMS.” Lagniappe also placed second in “General Excellence,” which is a category that tallies overall wins in each category based on both advertising and editorial participation. Reporter Brady Petree’s cover story on the phenomenon of listicles placed second in “Best News Feature Coverage.” In “Best Headline,” Hamrick won third place for his story about a Joe Cain marching society that shuns the color green and hands out citations for the verdant mistake. Ashley Trice was a third-place winner in “Best Humorous Column” for “Rise of the Partisan Appliances.”