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Business articles earn national writing award honors for CB3media owner

Barnes honored for column supporting friend's Hall of Fame bid

Barnes' posts on his CapitalSportsNC website earn praise

Barnes' real estate reporting for Business Journal impresses judges

CB3Media's Barnes wins award for campaign to honor Kay Kyser

Barnes e-book on UNC's Bell Tower wins national award

Barnes wins APEX award for series of basketball blogs for WNCN

Barnes wins national award for Column Writing

Profile of Robert Borden and Delegate Advisors

The Bell Tower has tolled through happy and sad times at UNC-Chapel Hill

CB3Media's owner wins 2015 national award for Column Writing

Barnes editorial wins national top honor

CapitalSportsNC.com wins national award

Take a look at Clifton Barnes' increasingly popular sports site.

Check out Barnes' analysis of UNC basketball.

Barnes wins national Web writing award

CB3media.com wins award for best new Web site; article also wins acclaim.

Heel Prints wins award for best Content & Writing; news article also honored.

Barnes receives 2011 national writing honors

Barnes wins two 2010 national writing awards

Barnes wins pair of 2009 national writing awards

© 2024 CB3media Cary, NC

Barnes wins national award for opinion writing
Editorial shows support for Gary Hahn, former NC State announcer

Clifton Barnes of Cary has won a national award for Editorial & Advocacy writing.

Writing for CapitalSportsNC, Barnes won an Award of Excellence from the DC area-based Communications Concepts through its 2024 Awards for Publication Excellence (APEX) competition.

Barnes, a native of Rocky Mount, was one of seven winners nationally in the category.

The opinion piece - titled "Media Unfairly Criticizes Hahn, Longtime Voice of N.C. State Athletics, Who Announces Retirement" - can be found online at capitalsportsnc.com/?p=1824855 .

Barnes came to the defense of N.C. State athletics play-by-play announcer Gary Hahn, who was heavily criticized for an offhand comment he made about illegal immigration.

"Virtually no one in the mainstream media came to Hahn's defense, just the opposite as a matter of fact," Barnes said. "In light of the unfairness of the situation and the fact that I have studied the issue of immigration since the 1990s and knew that what he stated was simply factual, I felt compelled to speak up. As I said in the editorial, he deserved better than that."

One judge wrote, "The author lays out all the facts surrounding a politically charged situation surrounding a longtime sportscaster's retirement, while also expressing his opinion.”

Another judge wrote, "The author presents a thoughtful and thorough reporting of the issue and lets the readers make their decision on how they feel about the situation."

Although Barnes has twice won awards for column writing, this is the first time Barnes has won an award for editorial writing in the APEX competition. This is the 14th year in a row that he has won at least one award in the APEX national competition, including awards for sports-related articles, law-related articles, business-related articles, opinion pieces, social media and website development.

Barnes has won nearly 100 awards over the years from various organizations including the N.C. Press Association, the National Association of Bar Executives, the N.C Society of Historians, the Carolinas Association of Business Communicators and the National Newspaper Association.

Barnes served as director of communications for the N.C. Bar Association for 15 years and, before that, was a newspaper writer and editor.

Today he is a freelance writer - having written numerous articles for the UNC General Alumni Association over the years - who owns several websites, including one that chronicles each UNC basketball game.

Barnes, who was sports editor of the Daily Tar Heel while in college, is known for spear-heading movements to get a highway marker for former bandleader Kay Kyser in Rocky Mount and a yearly Hometown Spirit Award in Cary. Also in 2024, Barnes held a Kay Kyser tribute event at the Braswell Library in Rocky Mount which featured video clips and in-person comments from Kyser's daughter Kimberly.

Along with his wife Andrea, he has raised their 18-year-old son Will, who is a freshman at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. Barnes is the son of W.C. (deceased) and Lorraine Barnes of Atlantic Beach. 

Heel Prints.

 

Apex Award 2005. Apex Award 2006. Apex Award 2007. Apex Award 2008. Apex Award 2010.

Apex Award 2011. Apex Award 2012. Apex Award 2013. Apex Award 2013 Number 2. Apex Award 2014.

Apex Award 2015. Apex Award 2016. Apex Award 2017. Apex Award 2018. Apex Award 2019.

Apex Award 2020.Apex Award 2016. Apex Award 2022. Apex Award 2023. Apex Award 2024.