Weekly editor-publisher wins Virginia prize for editorial leadership in the community for third time

Anne Adams

We're about three months late with this, but when a weekly editor has won a state's top award for editorial leadership three times in six years, it remains newsworthy.

Anne Adams, editor and publisher of The Recorder in Monterey, Va., has won the 27th annual D. Lathan Mims Award for Editorial Leadership in the Community from the Virginia Press Association.

"The citizens of Bath and Highland counties should be glad that Adams is on their side," wrote Marian Anderfuren, associate vice president for interactive communications at Tidewater Community College and a former editor at the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. "She demonstrates deep knowledge and affection for her community, and she beats a steady drum for good government, open official dealings, and plain common sense."

Anderfuren cited Adams' battle with a school superintendent over transparency in the school budget, "outrage at a redistricting ploy by the Virginia Senate that seemed to undermine a favorite son, Creigh Deeds," and her groundbreaking coverage of Deeds' attempted murder by his son, who then committed suicide. The incident highlighted the need for more mental-health beds in the Virginia Alleghenies and resulted in reform.

The award, presented for work published during the 2013 calendar year, is named for the late D. Lathan Mims, a former editor and general manager of the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg and a former president of the press association. Adams won it in 2007-08 and 2010. Only one other editor has won it more times; four-time winner John Edwards, longtime editor of the Smithfield Times, was this year's runner-up. (Read more)