Tennessee Lookout claims 14 awards in Tennessee Press Association contest 

The Tennessee Lookout won 14 awards in the annual University of Tennessee – Tennessee Press Association awards. (Photo: J. Holly McCall)

The Tennessee Lookout took home 14 awards — including two first-place finishes — in the 2025 University of Tennessee – Tennessee Press Association contest, which recognizes the top journalism in the state. 

The winners — selected from 1,113 entries from 71 news outlets  — were announced Saturday at the Tri-State Press Convention in Memphis. 

Tennessee Lookout reporter Sam Stockard won first place in Best Personal Humor column for his “Stockard on the Stump” weekly column, in which he writes about the inside baseball of Volunteer State politics. Lookout Editor-in-Chief Holly McCall earned a first-place award for Best Single Editorial for her May 14, 2024 column.

Part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network, with news outlets and news partnerships to cover state government in all 50 states, the Lookout celebrated its five-year anniversary on May 6. The Lookout’s six-person team competed in the large newsroom division, squaring off with the largest and longest-running news outlets in the state.

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Here is the full rundown of the Tennessee Lookout awards: