According to an article at Newsleader.com: Anne Adams, editor and publisher of The Recorder in Bath and Highland Counties, has been named the winner of the Virginia Press Association’s 24th annual D. Lathan Mims Award for Editorial Leadership in the Community.
In announcing the award, judge Jane See White said of Adams, “Anne Adams has guts. She knows Bath and Highland counties, she understands the challenges the community faces and as the editorial voice of The Recorder, she doesn’t hesitate to lay it all out for her readers.”
As regular readers of Ms. Adams’ work, we couldn’t agree more.
Congratulations, Ms. Adams!
Please read the full article here: Adams wins VPA editorial leadership award
(h/t to R. Webb)
Allegheny Treasures 
My congratulations to Ann. She understands community. She communicates the community story in her reporting. Her reporting connects the natural environment, the community and the residents. Anyone living in a rural community understands the importance of family, communication, cultural preservation, and preservation of democratic ideals and philosophy. Her writings promote discussion and builds understanding between individuals. The media serves to build partnerships and understanding.
Ann writing and story always reflects the extra efforts required to make a story complete. In the case of Big Industrial Wind, Ann remains with the story, reporting the details, gathers and checks the facts, asking important questions, and then tells and explains the story. The result is an informed community. She builds community, she understand the workings of small town dynamics, the focus on individuals, and getting people to think about how to address issues with officials, involve the reader to think and social action. This bottom up approach is what makes Highland and Bath County a community. She
My first association with Ann was an article regarding the Pinnacle Project, entitled
Can visual impacts be mitigated? West Virginia agency accepts grant offer from Wind Company. The story reads…
As Virginia wrangles over the visual impact of 400-foot towers on nearby historic properties, a similar situation in West Virginia resulted in a $10,000 grant offer from a wind energy company building 23 wind turbines overlooking some 18 historic places in Mineral County. Not everyone agrees it’s an appropriate solution, but Pinnacle Wind Force LLC offered to make that amount available for historic preservation efforts after the West Virginia Division of Culture and History (the State Historic Preservation Office) found its wind project would have an adverse impact on historic resources nearby. November 5, 2009 in The Recorder Online
http://www.windaction.org/news/23963
http://www.therecorderonline.com/news/2009-11-05/news/018.html
What makes this story important is Ann sees the big picture. She sees the connection. Living in Appalachian Mountains, she recognized that our ecological, historical and cultural ties do not stop at county or state boundaries. Her stories focus on the quality of life; she values her readers. Ann reporting is trusted and valued. Consequently, her reader knows she will be get to the story behind the story.
I encourage other readers to join me and send her an email of congratulation.
recorder@htcnet.org
Frank O’Hara
Co / chair, Allegheny Front Alliance.