CARY –Roanoke-Chowan Publications is proud to announce that one of its publications has been judged among the best works in the state.

Last week, the North Carolina Press Association (NCPA) conducted its Winter Institute in Cary where the winners of the NCPA’s 2008 News, Editorial & Photojournalist Contest were announced.

Placing second in Special Sections category of Division C (community newspapers with a 10,000 or greater circulation) was “OLF, Looking for a Place to Land”, a tab published in April of last year. The 12-page special section was devoted entirely to the plans still being developed by the U.S. Navy to construct a highly controversial Outlying Landing Field (practice facility) at one of five sites in northeastern North Carolina and southside Virginia.

One of the sites on the Navy’s short list is the Sand Banks area of Gates County, just across the Chowan River from Hertford County. That possible location has fueled public debate and opposition in both counties, facts explored within the tab as well as the special publication gaining insight from Navy officials over the need for an OLF.

The OLF tab was inserted into the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald and Gates County Index.

Annually, the NCPA contest attracts thousands of entries from across the state. Judging, in six circulation divisions, is performed by press associations from other states.

Only three winners are named in each category within each division. Placing first in the Division C Special Section category was the Mountain XPress of Asheville. The Independent Weekly of Durham placed third.

In addition, the NCPA, on its website (www.ncpress.com) features the work of six overall winning entries from the 2008 contest. The OLF tab was among those six.

The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald and Gates County Index are no strangers when it comes to being judged among the best in the state. In 2007, the NCPA awarded its Best Special Section to “Crossroads – 2006”, an annual publication of the News-Herald and the Index.

Over the past 10 years, Roanoke-Chowan Publications has earned eight News, Editorial & Photojournalist Contest awards from the NCPA. Exactly one-half of those honors were judged as first-place entries. Additionally, R-C Publications has earned several NCPA awards for advertising.