Albany Herald

From left, Carlton Fletcher, Mike Phillips and J.D. Sumner

MACON, Ga. -- The Albany Herald has won seven awards, including a first place in business reporting, in the Georgia Associated Press New Excellence Awards competition for work produced in 2011.

In addition to the first-place business story written by Herald Metro Editor Carlton Fletcher, reporter J.D. Sumner and sportswriter Mike Phillips were singled out for honors, along with an editorial written by The Albany Herald Editorial Board.

The Herald competes in Class AAA, which includes eight Georgia newspapers with circulation between 15,000 and 40,000. The awards were announced Saturday during an awards banquet in Macon.

Fletcher’s first-place effort included stories on how the closing of Cooper Tire has impacted Dougherty County, particularly the East Albany neighborhood in which Cooper was located.

Sumner received four AP awards including a second place in the Freedom of Information category for his coverage of the Albany City Commission.

Sumner received second place honors in the sports action photo category for his photo of an athlete during the Georgia High School Association’s girls state track meet in Albany.

Sumner earned a second place state award in the photo illustrations category for an illustration which accompanied a story titled “Innocence Lost,” the story of how Southwest Georgia is contributing to the state’s child sex addiction program.

Sumner also received a second place win in the graphics and illustrations category for his work showing the annual salaries of the county’s top elected officials.

The Herald’s Editorial Board received a second place in editorial writing for an editorial written by Hendricks about The Dougherty County Board of Education’s failure to adopt ethical operating standards and for making a mockery of Georgia’s Open Records/Open Meetings Law.

Phillips won third place in the sports writing category for his feature on Roosevelt Jackson, the oldest living member of the Negro League. Phillips did the story after Jackson was honored during a ceremony in Plains which included an appearance by former President Carter.