Mary Alice Murphy, owner/editor/reporter of www.grantcountybeat.com, received three awards in the New Mexico Press Women 2014 Communications Contest.
Receiving second place for photo essay was Victorian Christmas 2013-12-14, http://www.grantcountybeat.com/index.php/news/news-articles/13509-victorian-chrismas-celebrated-at-silver-city-museum and third place for continuing coverage or unfolding news for the series GRMC (Gila Regional Medical Center) trustees make cost-cutting decisions GRMC trustees make cost-cutting decisions May 2 2013
50 percent cuts in hours to hit about 10 percent of GRMC employees May 2, 2013
County Commission to hold no-confidence vote on GRMC senior administration May 7, 2013
GRMC trustees keep senior management May 21
Brian Cunningham Named GRMC Interim CEO July 26, 2013
GRMC Board presents new CNO, discusses budget and reports on personnel changes Aug. 30 2013
The judge said about the photo essay that "there are some nice moments here." He or she also gave constructive criticism to make next year's photos even better.
On the continuing coverage, the judge said "Overall, you did a wonderful job using sources, public comments and more to craft several stories on probably the most important issue in town over the course of these few months. ...Way to stick with it and see it through."
The Grant County Beat was also awarded a second place for Website edited or managed by entrant. Comments from the judge on this included: "This is a comprehensive, user-friendly website that does a good job of covering the community. Technically, everything works...no dead links. ...Offering comics and classifieds is a nice touch. I'm assuming that a site in a small town is pretty much a one-person operation. If so, bravo!"