Gaston County stories, photos win press association awards

The North Carolina Press Association recently recognized journalists for their exceptional work in the past year.

Here’s how the Gaston Gazette and Shelby Star placed amongst their competition this year:

First Place

Category: Beat feature reporting

Reporter: Kara Fohner

Headline: Gaston County sisters die months apart

Summary: A sorrowful story of two sisters who died just over a month apart from one another, and prior to their deaths, both had for years experienced homelessness, a situation spurred by their struggle with addiction.

Second Place

Category: General news photography

Photographer: Mike Hensdill

Subject: Homeless encampment closes

Category: City, county government reporting

Reporter: Kara Fohner

Headline: City forces pastor to close homeless encampment

Summary: A pastor is forced to shut down a homeless encampment that becomes the site of a homicide.

Category: Breaking news

Reporter: Kara Fohner/Diane Turbyfill

Headline: Lowell woman: Body uncovered in my backyard

Summary: Online chatter led reporter Kara Fohner out to the scene where investigators were executing search warrants. She conducted interviews and relayed them to editor Diane Turbyfill to have a breaking story on this “buried in the backyard” story.

The Star

Second Place

Category

Feature Photography

Photographer: Michael Hensdill

Subject: Foam Party Day

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gaston County stories, photos win press association awards