This must be the place: Ode to the written word, ode to putting the paper to bed

It’s a lot quieter this week at The Smoky Mountain News. Not just because of the unusually warm weather this past weekend sparking folks to frolic and head for the hills.

Smoky Mountain News nets 38 NCPA awards

The staff of the Smoky Mountain News won 18 advertising awards, including three first-place honors, as well as 16 editorial awards, including five first places, at this year’s North Carolina Press Association awards banquet. Awards were won in Division C, the largest division for nondaily publications.

SMN wins prestigious honors at Press Association conference

The Smoky Mountain News won 16 advertising awards and 20 editorial awards from the N.C. Press Association in a ceremony last week, including the prestigious Public Service Award for its coverage of the flooding from Tropical Storm Fred.

There’s still a market for good journalism

The mantra since starting this newspaper has been straightforward: put out a high-quality newspaper and work like hell to make sure the business survives. If we can do both, I’ll be one of the lucky ones: doing what I love, making a living doing it and living in a place I’m fortunate to call home.

No endings, only new beginnings

I can’t tell you how many goodbye columns I’ve read over the years from reporters leaving their posts, lamenting over the ills of the industry and trying to piece together words that can accurately explain the bittersweet feeling of walking away from their career in journalism. 

SMN brings home 26 N.C. Press Awards

The Smoky Mountain News team won 26 editorial awards in the 2020 North Carolina Press Association News and Editorial Contest. 

Play trivia with The Smoky Mountain News

Bar trivia is a cherished tradition for many in Western North Carolina, but such quiz nights are one of the many causalities of the COVID-19 closures that have swept our nation and the world at large.

A glimmer of light, perhaps, in the darkness

Way back, way back, like three or four weeks ago, our little company was on track for its best year ever.

Our print newspaper was going strong and we had just added a new, energetic and driven sales professional. Our digital footprint was growing faster than we had expected, and our staff was brimming with new ideas to help local businesses get their message out via several online platforms. Our niche publishing sector had grown significantly in the last 12 months, adding two annual magazines and the four-time-per-year Blue Ridge Motorcycling Magazine to our portfolio.

The Coronavirus and The Smoky Mountain News

No book review today. 

But please read this column.

Smoky Mountain News again recognized for journalistic excellence

It was another good year for community journalism in Western North Carolina, and writers from The Smoky Mountain News were a big part of it, taking home more editorial awards — 21 — than any other newspaper in its class. 

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At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. Unlike other news organizations, we made the decision to provide in-depth, regional reporting free to anyone who wanted access to it. We don’t plan to change that model. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News.

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