Vicksburg Post sports editor Ernest Bowker received seven awards, including two first-place honors, in the Mississippi Press Association’s 2024 Better Newspaper Contest.

Bowker was recognized for his writing and photography with two first-place awards, four seconds and one third.

Bowker won first place in the Class B Sports News Story and Game Story categories. His Sports News Story winner was a report on Sharkey-Issaquena Academy canceling its 2024 football season because of a lack of players. The Game Story winner was about Porter’s Chapel Academy football player Jase Jung breaking the Warren County rushing record in a win against Hillcrest Christian last October.

Bowker swept the top three places in the Game Story category, with a second-place finish for a story on Warren Central’s softball playoff victory over Grenada in April 2024 and a third-place award for a story on Warren Central’s girls’ basketball team ending a 35-game losing streak in December.

His other second-place finishes were in the Sports Column category, which included all of the state’s multi-day papers; Sports Feature Photo, for a picture from a Warren Central baseball game; and Pictorial Series for a photo package of a Bayou Independent Wrestling event in Vicksburg in March.

“We couldn’t be more proud of the work Ernest,” Blake Bell, general manager and executive editor of The Vicksburg Post, said. “It’s always great to see our staff honored for their tireless work and dedication to telling the stories of the people we serve. We want to congratulate them both and we look forward to many more years of their outstanding work.”

Bowker has worked at The Vicksburg Post for 27 years and has won more than 100 Mississippi Press Association awards during his career.

Class B in the contest include the state’s mid-size multiple-day newspapers. The contest winners were announced at the Mississippi Press Association’s summer convention held June 26-28 in Memphis.

Thirty-two newsrooms submitted more than 1,600 entries during this year’s contest. It was judged this spring by volunteers from the Oklahoma Press Association.