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Press women's group honors four in area

Fredericksburg-area journalists receive national awards

Date published: 9/26/2007

By Gwen Woolf

A reporter and an editor with The Free Lance-Star were among Fredericksburg-area winners in the 2007 National Federation of Press Women communications contest.

Winners were announced Saturday at the Richmond Marriott at the NFPW's annual conference. The contest drew 970 entries submitted in multiple categories. Entries that won first place at the state level were eligible for the national competition, which was judged by communications professionals from across the country.

Life reporter Kim Baer received a first-place award for special articles, hobby or crafts, for stories on local car buffs and canoeing.

Gwen Woolf, editor of the newspaper's Town & County magazine, received a second-place award for editing the magazine.

Other Fredericksburg-area winners include:

Freelance writer Diane Carroll Vogel of Spotsylvania County received a first-place award for special articles, nature, for a series that appeared in Town & County about walking the nature trail in her subdivision.

Sarah A. Ferrell of Spotsylvania County, who writes the "Devoted to Dogs" column in Town & County, won second place for personal columns, informational.

Virginia Johnson, Web content librarian with the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, was awarded third place for feature articles written specifically for the Web. Her articles were about coffee, flea markets and wedding planning.

Donna Harter Raab, director of development communications at the University of Mary Washington, won third place for editing a presidential tribute book about Dr. William M. Anderson Jr.

The conference in Richmond, hosted by Virginia Press Women, drew professional communicators from 35 states. NFPW is an organization of professional journalists and communicators.

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Date published: 9/26/2007