Members of the Southside Sentinel staff won five first place awards, four second place awards and three third place awards in the 2019 Virginia Press Association News and Advertising Contest.
The awards were to be presented during the annual awards banquet in early April, which was postponed and later canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. The winners were publicly announced last week.
Among the first-place winners was the inaugural Bay Heritage special section published last fall and produced jointly by the staffs of the Sentinel and the Rappahannock Record in Kilmarnock.
The contest judge commented: “Beautiful publication and tribute to the heritage of this area. The photos were knockouts and the good writing made it clear this was not just another glossy advertising supplement. Your entry said this was the first time for this supplement. I would look forward to next year’s edition if I lived in your market.”
Many of the Sentinel’s awards involved video and were entered as a collaboration between videographer/graphic designer Ray Rose and reporter/photographer Tom Chillemi.
The duo swept the Data Journalism category, winning first for a report on the annual Marines’ run in honor of General Chesty Puller, second for a report on a World War II veteran being recognized in Congress on his 100th birthday, and third for a report on Family Boatbuilding Week at the Deltaville Maritime Museum. Each entry included a printed news article and a video on the same subject.
Rose and Chillemi also won first in the Video category for coverage of the annual Easter Egg Hunt at the museum.
Chillemi won first in the Combination Picture and Story category for his feature entitled “A Past with a Presence” that appeared in Bay Heritage. It included photos Chillemi had taken over several years on and around local farms. One of the photos, of rusty barbed wire wrapped around a weathered fence post with a barn in the background, also took first in the Pictorial Photo category. The contest judge said, “The words and pictures meld seamlessly to create a wonderfully produced essay.”
Rose and Chillemi took second in the Multimedia category for a video of Chillemi running a lap at Daytona speedway in his Champ car. Chillemi had a camera mounted in the car that captured the cockpit and traffic, and speed, and Rose edited the video. They also took third in the Multimedia category for a video of the Volley for a Cure volleyball fundraiser at Middlesex High School.
Larry Chowning joined Rose and Chillemi in winning second place in the Slideshow or Gallery category for a year end Review of 2018. The judge’s comment: “What a nice, succinct way to round up the entire year in the time it takes to toast a bagel.”
The Sentinel was also recognized with two awards for advertising entries. Rose and sales rep Gloria Abbott won second in the Small Space Ads category for a private owner selling a waterfront lot, and Rose and sales manager Hannah Abbott won in the Food and Drug category for a Cool Beans Cafe ad.
The Rivah Visitor’s Guide, a seasonal magazine published jointly by the Sentinel and the Record, also won a first place advertising award among specialty publications in the state. Designer Amy DeWolf and Jessica Bell shared the honor for an ad created for The James Company.
Check out the videos below.
