The Forsyth County News editorial staff won 18 Associated Press Media Editors awards for work published in 2016, including the year’s top photography award, best website and a sweep of the multimedia category among Division I outlets.

Contest winners were announced Saturday in Atlanta from a pool of 22 organizations that submitted 495 entries, from news, sports and weather stories and spanning print, television and radio journalism.

Micah Green won Photo of the Year and Best Feature Photo for his shot of a father seeing his son’s face for the first time after undergoing corrective surgery in Nigeria. The photo was taken during a mission trip to the country with Alliance for Smiles, a Rotary-funded nonprofit that conducts free cleft lip and palate operations in under-served areas of the world, usually for children.

FCN was awarded first place in five other categories, including:

• Best Website
  
• Best Multiplatform Coverage of a Single Story, “Racing with Purpose: A Day with the North Georgia Quarter Midget Association," Paul Dybas and Micah Green
  
• Best Photo Illustration, “Evan – The Grind,” Micah Green
  
• Best Picture Story, “Bees,” Micah Green
  
• Best Sports Writing, “Former West Forsyth Standout Guthrie Turns JUCO Journey into D-I Future,” Michael Foster
  

FCN received four second place awards, including:

• Public Service, “The Business of Buying our Children: Child Sex Trafficking North of the Atlanta Perimeter,” Kayla Robins, Paul Dybas and Micah Green
  
• Portfolio, Micah Green
  
• Multiplatform Coverage of a Single Story, "Massage Parlors Raided, Cited for Ordinance Violations,” Kayla Robins and Paul Dybas
  
• Spot News Photo,“Preparing for the Heat,”Jim Dean
  

FCN received seven third place awards, including:

• Multiplatform Coverage of a Single Story, “Hopewell Roofing Gives Back to Forsyth County Senior in Need,” Paul Dybas, Micah Green and Kayla Robins
  
• Feature Writing, "Medal Tested: Paralympian Returns to Cumming After Winning Big in Rio,” Kayla Robins
  
• Spot News Photo, “An Accident’s Aftermath,” Jim Dean
  
• Non-Deadline Reporting, “Suicide: Lost in the Shadows,” Isabel Hughes
  
• Beat Reporting, Local Government, Kelly Whitmire
  
• Photo Illustration, “Denver Stonecheck,” Micah Green
  
• Sports Writing, "Four Middle School Girls are Kicking Stereotypes,” Michael Foster.