The Meridian Star wins 2 national awards

The Meridian Star’s newsroom has garnered national recognition by winning two awards from the Inland Press Association.

The Star received a second place award in the Community Leadership category for its ongoing reporting about safety issues at the aging Lauderdale County Courthouse.

“Without agenda setting reporting by The Meridian Star, the community’s courthouse might still be stuck in a time warp,” the judges wrote. “The newspaper’s staff tackled a problem that everyone knew about, but few were willing to put on the front burner: A decaying building that made workers sick and was literally collapsing every day…a great example of the power of journalism to make a community a better place to live.”

The Community Leadership Award, which was sponsored and judged by the Missouri School of Journalism at Missouri University, covers newspapers of all sizes across the country. First place honors went to Tulsa World for its reporting on the veterans’ care system in Oklahoma.

The Star also received a third place nod in the Explanatory Reporting category for “Draining City Funds,” which documented issues with the City of Meridian’s sewer system. Public safety reporter Whitney Downard was the lead reporter on the project.

Alexander Gould, publisher of The Meridian Star, said he was honored the paper was recognized.

“Our newsroom is dedicated to reporting local news of consequence within our community,” he said. “We feel it is important our community members be as informed as possible, and will continue to work diligently on their behalf.”

The winners in the association’s 2017 contest were announced at its joint annual meeting with the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association in Colorado Springs.