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Two Newspapers influenced my news judgment at the Selma Times-Journal.

The Tuscaloosa News and The Biloxi Sun-Herald played huge roles in my 32 years of being an award-winning journalist.

I grew up reading The Tuscaloosa News and worked two years as a stringer during my last two years at Stillman College. Working at my hometown newspaper was a big deal to me and my family.

Of course, 26 years at The Biloxi Sun Herald also played a role in my news selection. I was part of a 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning team for our coverage of Hurricane Katrina, which damaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005.

First, I’ll start with The Tuscaloosa News’ influence on me with high school football coverage.

In our Wednesday print edition, we do a big preview of high school football with multi-photos and information on all seven teams: Selma High, Morgan Academy, Southside High, Dallas County High, Keith High, Ellwood Christian Academy and Meadowview Christian School.

In our weekend edition, our sports page has the game of the week and a roundup of the other games, each article with photos. Unlike other newspapers across the state, Friday night scores are in the next day. Readers get a quick glance on how their teams did in print. 

Each school will get covered at least once during the season and treated as The Selma Times-Journal’s game of the week. We don’t have the manpower to attend every game and this is the best we can do.

When I left Biloxi and moved to Selma in 2018, two concepts came with me.

The brief section on the second sports page known as Sports Check was converted to Educational Briefs in Selma. I put the top education news of our high schools, middle schools and elementary schools on page 3, alongside the community calendar and news story that did not make the first two pages.

I also converted The Sun Herald’s All-Coast teams into The Selma Times-Journal’s All-Dallas County teams. The approach to the area’s best players in football, basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball stayed the same: get nominations from coaches.

I’m honored to share ideas I learned over the years with Dallas County.

James Jones is the managing editor of The Selma Times-Journal. He can be reached at james.jones@selmatimesjournal.com.