Chris Bridges Wins Prestigious Award

Monticello native Chris Bridges was honored with the coveted Furman Bisher Sweepstakes Award during the annual Georgia Sports Writers Association Convention held earlier this month in Lawrenceville.

Mr. Bridges won the award for a column he wrote while sports editor of The Banks County News, a Mainstreet Newspaper publication. The column focused on how the athletic rivalry between Banks County High School and Commerce High School should end after Commerce backed out of a verbal commitment for a football game during the 2008 season.

The Furman Bisher Sweepstakes Award signifies the best overall story for each division. The column was named the winner for Division III, which covers all newspapers published once, twice and three times per week in the state.

The piece also won first place for Best Column.
Mr. Bridges also won second place for Best Local Sports News Story for an article on the death of a Banks County High School student in a traffic accident.

The sports section of The Banks County News was named second overall for Division III.

“I am very honored by the Furman Bisher Sweepstakes Award,” Mr. Bridges said. “This represents the top award in sports journalism in the state and it is a true privilege to receive an award named in honor of Mr. Bisher, who inspired me to go into the journalism field.”

Mr. Bridges also won the award in 2004.

Mr. Bisher is a long time sports editor and columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is a member of numerous sports hall of fames (see I’m Fixin’ To, June 18).

Mr. Bridges is now editor of the Barrow Journal, another Mainstreet Newspaper publication. The paper began publishing last October.

The son of Paul and Melba Bridges of Monticello, Mr. Bridges contributes articles about Piedmont Academy athletics to The Monticello News.