Reporter Newspapers staff writer Melissa Weinman on April 16 received an Award of Excellence from the Atlanta Press Club.
Weinman received the Press Club’s first “Rising Star Award,” a distinction given to journalists younger than 30.
“I’m honored to be recognized by the Atlanta Press Club,” Weinman said. “It’s great to be recognized by your peers for your work and it has been rewarding to cover the new cities of Brookhaven and Dunwoody.”
Reporter Newspapers Founder and Publisher Steve Levene said the award is also a recognition of the company’s growing presence in the Atlanta media market.
“We are delighted that Atlanta’s media community has recognized Melissa’s efforts and the coverage provided by Reporter Newspapers,” Levene said. “The local reporting of our editorial staff is getting noticed by readers and professional journalists alike.”
Atlanta Press Club Executive Director Lauri Strauss said members of the National Press Club judged the entries. It is the first year the Atlanta Press Club has given the award as part of its Awards of Excellence.
“We created this award because we definitely wanted to recognize not only journalists that have been doing this for a long time but also our up and coming stars, the future of Atlanta journalism, the people that everyone should be looking out for,” Strauss said.
Readers of Reporter Newspapers are familiar with her byline. For the last two years she has written stories about Brookhaven and Dunwoody, as well as in-depth features. One of her more notable stories was a profile on the “Dunwoody Murder Trial Drinking Club”, a story about people fascinated with details of the Hemy Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman murder trials. To read that story, click here.
Prior to joining Reporter Newspapers in 2011, Weinman worked as a government reporter at The Times newspaper in Gainesville, Ga. She received her B.A. degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and served as associate news editor of The Red & Black student newspaper.
Reporter Newspapers is based in Sandy Springs, Ga. It publishes the Brookhaven Reporter, Sandy Springs Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter and Buckhead Reporter newspapers.
The other finalists for the Rising Star award were:
– David Michaels, The News Enterprise/Atlanta Unfiltered
– Jonathan Shapiro, WABE