News

Lightning wins six awards, including best website

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 10, 2021

The Hendersonville Lighting won six awards at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Press Association last month, including first place in its circulation category for the best website in the state.

The awards and judges’ comments were:

• 1^st Place, General Excellence for websites. Hendersonvillelightning.com. “Like Ask Matt. Breaks down across top into smaller cities. Lots of local news. Good way to look at photos.”
• 1st Place, Bill Moss, Beat news reporting. “Frank Byrd was a lifelong advocate for young people.” “This was much more than an obituary; it was a detailed history of a community asset, including testimonials.”
• 1st Place, Moss, Editorials. For editorials on efforts to kill local road projects, Henderson County v. Hendersonville water wars, and masking up is pro-business. “Excellent job of asking questions, providing information and noting options.”
• 2nd Place, Moss, Breaking News Coverage. “Charlie Messer, lifelong county leader, dies at 66.” “An excellent memorial for a local community leader after he passed.”

• 3rd Place, Moss, Breaking News Coverage. “Ryan Hendrix gave his life in ‘the job he was born to do’” “A wonderful memorial for a senseless death.”
• 3rd Place, Moss, Profile Feature. “A surgeon for more than 70 years, he excelled at service, golf and life,” a profile of Dr. P.J. Moore on his 100th birthday.

“We were grateful that the NCPA contest recognized two news obits — one of the Lightning’s brands — and honored our coverage of the tragic death of Deputy Ryan Hendrix in the line of duty,” said Moss, editor and publisher of the Lightning. “The General Excellence award for hendersonvillelighting.com was especially welcome as well, given the passion we have for upholding our motto as the ‘Fastest Name in Media.’ We’ve averaged just under four postings a day seven days a week for going on nine years. We’re humbled and grateful that more and more, the community is rewarding our news reporting by consuming the Lightning in print and on line.”

The awards were announced in a virtual ceremony on Feb. 26 during the annual meeting of the NCPA. Moss serves on the executive committee of the 160-member newspaper association and is chair of its Legislative Committee.

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