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Lew Gilliland, a 25-year veteran of community journalism, has been named news editor of The Selma Times-Journal, Publisher Dennis Palmer announced.

Gilliland spent the previous seven years at the Talladega Daily Home, where he served as assistant editor and managing editor, running the paper’s newsroom during the evening shift. His primary responsibilities were editing and quality control.

“I’m excited to join the staff of the Times-Journal and to begin getting to know the Selma community,” Gilliland said. “I believe there is no substitute for a good community newspaper that keeps readers informed about what’s going on in their neighborhood, school, city or county. I look forward to working with Publisher Dennis Palmer and Managing Editor James Jones to tell the ongoing story of Selma and Dallas County.”

Prior to Talladega, Gilliland spent 15 years at the Fort Payne Times-Journal, serving as sports editor for most of that tenure before being promoted to managing editor, a position he held for 23 months.

Gilliland’s writing has been honored by the Alabama Press Association, the Alabama Associated Press and the Alabama Sports Writers Association. During his final year in Fort Payne, he led a newsroom that won 23 awards in the Alabama APME contest.

A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Gilliland graduated from UT-Chattanooga with a degree in communications and began his career working part time for The Chattanooga Times, which was then the city’s morning paper. The Times has since merged with the city’s afternoon paper to form The Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Gilliland’s early career included stops at community papers in Calhoun, Ga.; Cleveland, Tenn.; and Ringgold, Ga.

“We’re very excited to get someone of Lew’s experience to join our team here in Selma,” Palmer said. “He came highly recommended by several people I know who are industry veterans and I know he’s going to be a valuable addition to not only our newspaper, but the Selma community.”

Gilliland began work last week, working from his Talladega home before moving to Selma this week.