Athens, Atlanta, LaGrange papers win honors in GAPA contest

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Athens Banner-Herald and LaGrange Daily News won the top story honors in the 2001 Georgia Associated Press Association annual newspaper contest. <br> <br> The Macon Telegraph, The Albany Herald and The Daily Citizen of Dalton received the Photo of the Year awards from the association of Georgia daily papers that belong to the news cooperative. <br> <br> The winners were honored Saturday at the group&#39;s annual awards banquet. AP member newspaper editors in Michigan judged the Georgia newspapers in three classes based on circulation. <br> <br> The Athens Banner-Herald news staff won Story of the Year honors and first place in the public service reporting category among mid-sized papers for ``The Long Walk,&#39;&#39; a four-day series focused on the 40th anniversary of desegregation at the University of Georgia. Among smaller dailies, the Sherri Brown of the LaGrange Daily News won Story of the Year honors and first place for feature writing for ``Vital Signs,&#39;&#39; which chronicled a teen-ager&#39;s battle back from a drug overdose that had left him clinically dead. <br> <br> Jane O. Hansen of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution captured the Story of the Year honors among the large dailies for ``Selling Atlanta&#39;s Children,&#39;&#39; which looked at how young children are forced to work as prostitutes. The story also shared first place in public service reporting among the large dailies with another entry by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ``Dying in Darkness&#39;&#39; by Ken Foskett and Ann Hardie. ``Dying in Darkness&#39;&#39; was a two-day series on the mentally retarded who had died while under state care in privately run group homes. <br> <br> Among smaller newspapers, Gene Rector of The Daily Sun of Warner Robins won first place in public service reporting for a three-part series on the Veteran&#39;s Administration Hospital. <br> <br> Nick Oza of The Macon Telegraph received the top photo honor among large newspapers for his picture story on ``Mallory&#39;s Medical Odyssey,&#39;&#39; showing a young girl&#39;s battle against a rare form of epilepsy. Among mid-sized papers, Don Stalvey of The Albany Herald received the top photo honors and first place for spot news photo for ``Motel Shooting.&#39;&#39; Todd Schoeneman of The Daily Citizen in Dalton received top photo honors and first place for spot news photo among smaller dailies for ``Soggy Survivor&#39;&#39; taken while covering floods. <br> <br> Freedom of Information awards were given to: <br> <br> Bill Roberts and Ron Wayne of The Valdosta Daily Times for ``Congressman&#39;s comments cause a stir.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Courier Herald of Dublin for ``Timesheets for coaches discontinued&#39;&#39; by Chris Whitfield. <br> <br> The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for coverage of ``Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell&#39;s Administration&#39;&#39; by Richard Whitt, Alan Judd and metro staff.