By Evan Bevins, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On the night the West Virginia Press Association honored Interim Executive Director Doug Skaff Jr., after his passing in June, his company’s Charleston Gazette-Mail was recognized as the Newspaper of the Year.
Reimagined as a one-day event, the 2025 West Virginia Press Association Convention took place Saturday at the University of Charleston. The day culminated in the Editorial Awards Banquet, and the announcement of the General Excellence awards, followed by the presentation of the Newspaper of the Year honor.
With the highest combined point total among editorial and advertising awards, the Gazette-Mail took the top honor.
“Tremendous, tremendous recognition for all the hard work that our team does every day,” said Jeff Rider, executive editor for HD Media, which publishes the Gazette-Mail along with the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington and 10 other newspapers in West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio.
Rider said he’s been with the Charleston paper since the days of Ken Ward and Paul Nyden and he’s happy to help continue their legacy.
“Those guys set an incredible bar for how journalism is supposed to be in this state and at the Gazette-Mail,” he said.
The paper has gone through a lot of changes in recent years, Rider noted, most recently with the unexpected passing of Skaff, HD Media’s president, following a car accident.
“This one’s for him,” Rider said.
Skaff’s wife Marissa and his HD Media successor Phil Perry paid tribute to him before the awards presentation.
Perry noted Skaff came to the job in 2020 without journalism experience but wanted to learn.
“He quickly won me over with his dedication and his ability to create relationships with people,” he said. “He was not above or below anything. He did not mind doing the dirty work.”
Marissa Skaff thanked the association for recognizing her husband’s passion and dedication.
“(He) always believed that local journalism was the heartbeat of a strong democracy,” she said. “Doug was a man who cared deeply about people, about the state and about the truth.”
Jim Spanner, president of dailies — press services for the association, announced a donation of $1,000 to the Douglas J. Skaff Jr. Mountaineer Spirit Scholarship.
The featured speaker at the dinner was Don Smith, a former executive director of the association who worked for multiple newspapers in the state and now serves as associate vice president of government and external relations and chief communications officer for the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Smith said he was happy to see many people he’d known and worked with over the years as well as new faces attending the convention for the first time.
“There’s value in what you do,” he said, recalling his inspiration to go into the field after seeing the impact journalists had covering the Watergate scandal. “Take pride in what you’re doing. Stand up to the attacks. Remember that you’re not alone.”
Although no longer working directly in journalism, Smith said there are parallels in his efforts now to help the School of Osteopathic Medicine, West Virginia’s largest medical school, educate doctors and place them in communities throughout the state.
As the General Excellence awards were presented, WV News Publisher Andy Knicely noted the first-place honor earned by the Times Record and Roane County Reporter in Division 3. WV News took over operations of the Spencer papers on Aug. 1, following the retirement of longtime Publisher David Hedges and Editor Jim Cooper. Kniceley called them “two incredible community journalists.”
“That’s exactly the job we all have to fulfill,” he said.
Spanner announced a lifetime Press Association membership for Hedges.
General Excellence Award winners:
Division 1
* First place – Charleston Gazette-Mail
* Second place – The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register
* Third place (tie) – The Register-Herald and the Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Division 2
* First – The Journal
* Second – The Inter-Mountain
* Third – Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Division 3
* First – The Times Record & Roane County Reporter
* Second – The Morgan Messenger
* Third – Hampshire Review
Division 4
* First – The Doddridge Independent
* Second – The Shepherdstown Chronicle
* Third – Tyler Star News
The Editorial Awards Banquet was sponsored by the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.
The Editorial Awards were sponsored by Vandalia.
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