CityView has received 11 prizes in the N.C. Press Association’s 2023-24 News, Editorial & Photojournalism Contest, including four first-place awards.
Eight staff members were cited individually for editorial excellence in the annual competition, and two of CityView’s magazine products — the flagship monthly CityView Magazine, and CityView’s annual “DestinationFAY” visitors and newcomers guide — took first and second place, respectively, in the competition’s “Magazine or Niche Publication” category.
CityView, which also publishes a digital newsletter and website covering news in Cumberland County, competed in the “Online” division of the contest, which includes a number of statewide news outlets. CityView Today’s newsletter, which publishes six days a week, is distributed free to more than 32,000 readers. With the addition of health care reporter Morgan Casey, a Report for America corps member, CityView’s news team now includes one part-time and seven full-time journalists, a columnist and a team of freelancers.
“Recognition from peers in our industry is always nice to receive, and I’m incredibly proud of our winners and their awards — and of what we provide to our readers through our reporting and writing,” said Executive Editor Bill Horner III. “We’ve made a commitment in the last year to grow and strengthen our team and to provide better and more meaningful reporting to everyone in Cumberland County. We think these awards demonstrate the fact that our work makes a difference.”
CityView’s winners include:
- Paul Woolverton, who joined CityView last fall after a long career at The Fayetteville Observer, won first place in the Election/Political Reporting category for a series of articles on how state election laws make it difficult for politically independent candidates to get their names on North Carolina ballots.
- Earl Vaughan Jr., who joined CityView after his retirement from The Fayetteville Observer, won first place in the Sports Columns category for his observations on the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s battle with the state legislature over political influence, and on ACC Network football commentator and Jack Britt graduate Eric Mac Lain’s perspective on the college transfer portal.
- Gary Mangum, who won first place in the Sports Feature Writing category with his story “Man of Steal.” The feature follows Jackson Loftin, a player for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, a Minor League Baseball team and the Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros.
- Lexi Solomon, who joined CityView from The Fayetteville Observer late in 2023, won two prizes. Her stories on the Hope Mills Police Department scandal, which saw the State Bureau of Investigation step in after a major was found unconscious in a department bathroom, won second place in the Breaking News Coverage category. She also won third place in the Ledes category. A “lede” is a story’s opening or introduction, and Solomon was cited for ledes for stories she wrote about what happens in Cumberland County schools over Christmas break, the reality of the holiday season for Fayetteville’s homeless community, and the E.E. Smith High School relocation debate.
- Evey Weisblat, whose series of reports about the controversial closing of the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Fayetteville won second place in Investigative Reporting.
- Claire Mullen, who contributes columns for CityView Magazine. She won second place in the Lighter Columns category.
- Bill Kirby Jr., CityView’s senior columnist. Kirby, another long-time member of The Fayetteville Observer’s newsroom, was awarded third place in the Serious Columns category for his poignant stories about the late Lorry Williams, The Fayetteville Times, and the late educator Tim Kinlaw.
- Tony Wooten. Wooten, a photographer who works for both CityView’s magazines and its news team, won third place in the Photo Page or Essay category for photos he took for a magazine story entitled “Sacred spaces with divine designs.” The photos, published in CityView Magazine’s March 2024 edition, show Cumberland County’s colorful and meaningful places of prayer, blending artistry and devotion and show scenes from a number of local places of worship.
CityView won five prizes in the 2022-23 contest, and CityView Magazine repeated its first-place finish as best magazine in 2023-24. Horner credited the work of Copy Editor and lead magazine editor Valeria Cloës in leading the production process, Managing Editor Maydha Devarajan and designer Annette Winter — along with CityView’s team of freelance writers — in that recognition.
The awards will be presented at the N.C. Press Association’s annual convention in Raleigh on Sept. 19.
CityView is transitioning to a new ownership under The Assembly, a three-year-old digital magazine that publishes long-form journalism on everything from politics to higher education to culture in North Carolina. Kyle Villemain, The Assembly’s founder and editor-in-chief, said his organization is focused on supporting and growing reporting at the city level, which led to his partnership with former CityView Publisher Tony Chavonne.
Free access to CityView Today, CityView’s digital newsletter, can be found here.
