NC Newsline wins 4 awards from NC Press Association

Thursday night, NC Newsline staff collected four awards at the 2026 North Carolina Press Association convention. 

The NCPA holds an annual statewide contest for newspapers, magazines and digital media outlets. NC Newsline competes in the online category. 

Senior Investigative Reporter Greg Childress took first place in general news reporting for his story about a tragedy at a Durham apartment building, A grieving mother blames son’s death on shoddy building maintenance.

A grieving mother blames son’s death on shoddy building maintenance

The judges wrote, “A tragic death serves as the gateway into a closer look at how a local government struggles to monitor and regulate problems at public housing complexes. Informative and emotional.”

Childress also won third place in enterprise reporting for his reporting on one of the state’s most impoverished ZIP codes: East Kinston’s youth look for hope in old school building, and Can NC Global TransPark lift East Kinston residents out of poverty?

Deputy Editor Clayton Henkel, who edits our newsletter everyday, took second place for best newsletter. If you don’t get our daily newsletter, you can subscribe here.

And former reporter Brandon Kingdollar, who is now attending law school at Yale, won third place in feature writing for his story about the Ukrainian community in North Carolina: Ukrainian school in Raleigh brings together refugees, longtime immigrants to keep culture alive.

Congratulations to Greg, Clayton and Brandon, and many thanks to the readers and supporters who make our work possible!