The Alamance News was honored Thursday night with some of the state press associa-tion’s top writing and reporting awards for news coverage during 2025.
At the annual convention held in Cary last week, the North Carolina Press Association gave its prestigious public service award for the news-paper’s comprehensive coverage of the impact of Tropical Storm Chantal, which struck the county last July.
The newspaper entered stories, most by staff writer Tomas Murawski, from the first three weeks after the storm hit on Sunday night, July 6, 2025 – in the July 10, 17, and 24, 2025 editions.
Among the stories entered was a dramatic page one investigative report (in the July 17 edition) on the tragic death of a Graham resident, 23-year-old Hajar Hassib, who called 9-1-1 the night of the storm as her car was swept off Jim Minor Road into a roadside pond, where it was found two days later.
That individual story by Murawski, largely based on a transcript of her frantic 9-1-1 call, also won third place for investigative reporting in the state contest.
Also included as a part of the award for public service and investigative reporting was an editorial by publisher Tom Boney, Jr., entitled “We print local news, not press releases for government officials.” The newspaper’s editorial addressed county attorney Rik Stevens’ retaliation against the newspaper for that story – in which he both cancelled the legal department’s subscription to the newspaper and cut off legal advertising from his department in the newspaper. That editorial is reprinted in this week’s edition.
According to the North Carolina Press Association, the association’s contest continues to be one of the largest in the country with more than 3,000 entries from over 100 newspapers and news organizations. This year, the Wisconsin Newspaper Association members judged the contest. The Alamance News won a total of eight awards in this year’s contest.
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First place: Education reporting
Also winning a first place award was the newspaper’s coverage of last year’s report from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction on the School Performance Grades of schools within Alamance-Burlington school system and of the school system as a whole.
Because over half of the county’s schools were listed as “low-performing,” the state also designated the school system itself as “low-performing,” which was the first time that had happened to ABSS.
The judges commented on staff writer Kristy Bailey’s story: “Outstanding use of the graphic [i.e., various charts on school and school district performance] to drive home the story. I would have enjoyed some more context/reaction, but assume this was on deadline.” [Editor’s Note: it was. Scores are announced annually on a Wednesday, the newspaper’s deadline for Thursday publication.]
The newspaper’s entry included as a part of the award, an editorial, by publisher Tom Boney, Jr., entitled “ABSS named one of the 20 worst school systems in the state.” It is also reprinted in this week’s edition.
[Editor’s Note: this year’s report, included two weeks ago in the September 3, 2026 edition, showed significant improvement among many ABSS schools, and the school system itself was no longer on the “low-performing list,” although 12 of 36 individual schools continued to be evaluated as “low performing.”]
Special awards for legal and freedom of information reporting
Bailey was also recognized for two other special awards.
Bailey won a second place recognition for the press association’s Henry Lee Weathers Freedom of Information award, which honors journalists or newspapers for exceptional work in advancing or upholding the cause of Freedom of Information. It also recognizes excellence in reporting about access to government-held information and the First Amendment.
Bailey’s March 19, 2026 story, “Council emails don’t reflect support for moving park,” delved into the emails to and among Graham city council members regarding their plan to move or close the Sesquicentennial Park on the northwest corner of Court Square.
The newspaper filed public records requests with the three council members who voted several times to close or move the park – mayor pro tem Ricky Hall and council members Bobby Chin and Bonnie Whitaker. The public records provided demonstrated little correspondence to substantiate Whitaker’s and Chin’s frequent insistence that they’d heard an outpouring of support for moving the park.
Said the contest judges, “This is good and important FOIA work, well structured and answers the questions the community is interested in.”
Finally, the newspaper was notified of a runner-up award from the North Carolina Bar Association, which presents its Media and the Law Award at the annual press meeting; it recognizes outstanding legal reporting that fosters greater public understanding of the legal system and the role of lawyers in today’s society.
Bailey was named second place among community newspapers for her stories on the murder trial earlier this year of Issiah Mekki Ross, a former Eastern Alamance High School student, who was accused of the murders of a classmate, Devin Clark, and another teenager, Lyric Woods of Efland, near Buckhorn Road on the outskirts of Mebane in September 2022.
Bailey’s coverage included stories in the January 15, 22, & 29, 2026 editions, as well as the February 5, 2026 coverage of the jury’s verdict. Jurors convicted Ross of second-degree murder in Clark’s death but deadlocked on Woods’ death.
Other honors:
Staff writer Bailey was also awarded a second place award for Beat Reporting for a series of stories on the competition between Cone Health and Duke Health seeking state approval to build a 46-bed hospital in Mebane.
The newspaper’s entry consisted of stories from the April 17 and 24 editions, as well as May 1 and July 24.
Said the contest judges: “Reporting holds health care companies accountable and keeps public informed of developing situation.”
Publisher Boney was also honored in his capacity as the beat reporter covering the Graham city council earlier this year. A March 12, 2026 story outlining the objections of various Graham residents to the treatment they were receiving from the city council earlier this year, entitled, “Public speakers to Graham city council: You’re not respecting us, our opinions,” won third place for City/County Government Reporting.
The Wisconsin contest judges commented: “While this is mostly just a ‘covering a meeting’ story, the reporter chose good comments from a passionate crowd and made the story compelling to read.”
Staff writer Murawski also won a third place for Religion and Faith Reporting for a story on Graham resident Sara Williams, who has been involved with the Home Funeral Alliance and the Funeral Consumers Alliance – and at the time of the story (July 17, 2025) was serving as the latter nonprofit’s national president.
[Editor’s Note: in an ironic coincidence in timing, the National Newspaper Association, of which The Alamance News is also a member, is holding its annual convention beginning today in Detroit, Michigan. The Alamance News has been advised that it is also the recipient of several significant national awards in the association’s Better Newspaper Contest, which are to be formally announced on Friday. More on those in next week’s edition.]
