The Valdosta Daily Times is humbled and honored to once again be recognized as one of Georgia’s best newspapers. 

The Georgia Press Association recognized The Times with 16 prestigious awards at its annual Better Newspaper Contest Awards Ceremony at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel Friday evening. 

For the second year in a row, our community can take pride in having one of the top three newspapers in Georgia. 

Among the awards received this year was the coveted Freedom of Information Award only given to one daily newspaper each year. 

The Times received the award for open government advocacy and watchdog reporting. 

Specifically, last year’s reporting on open meeting violations by local governmental bodies, action by the Georgia Office the Attorney General and related editorials were recognized. 

Editor Jim Zachary was a featured speaker at this year’s Georgia Press Association convention, addressing the importance of newspapers and the battle for government transparency. 

Zachary was joined on the dais by the state’s leading First Amendment attorney David Hudson and Columbia Journalism Review reporter Susanna Neismith, who showcased the work of The Valdosta Daily Times in CJR’s premier journalism publication. 

Our community can know that our community newspaper is leading the way in the state of Georgia when it comes to defending the First Amendment and championing open government. 

The Times was also recognized for its local news coverage, an award that recognizes how well a newspaper covers its community with local news and information. 

Though the Freedom of Information Award is always the highlight of the evening at the annual banquet and the last award handed out, we value the local news coverage award as much as any other recognition. It means we are recognized as doing an exceptional job of covering Valdosta, Lowndes County and South Georgia. 

The paper received other awards for best front page, lifestyle coverage, spot news photo, sports feature photo, sports photo, serious column, sports writing, best online news project, information graphics, investigative reporting and best editorial page.  

We are proud of the newspaper staff and believe we have a wonderful team, mostly made up of young reporters, who are passionate and care about what they do, working hard each day to do right things in right ways. 

Above all else, we want to thank our thousands of readers. 

Thank you for bringing us into your homes each day and allowing us to be a part of your lives as we work to serve this community.