Mike Barber is in his fourth year with the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The 27-year-old Barber covers James Madison football and Division III basketball for the 32,000 circulation paper as well as serving as the assistant sports editor.

His first year with the DN-R he covered high school sports, James Madison women's basketball and University of Virginia football. Barber won four Virginia Press Association awards since joining the DN-R, including a first-place award for sports feature writing this year.

Barber is also a contributing editor for the online publication Hatch Magazine.

Before coming to Harrisonburg, Barber worked for four years in the publications department of Major League Baseball. Barber joined MLB in his sophomore year at Rutgers University as an intern.

He stayed on with the department as an editorial assistant and freelance editor and writer and had numerous stories published in the league's official publications. Barber still writes freelance stories for MLB. His most recent work is a piece on the history of the Negro League World Series, which appeared in the official World Series program.

At Rutgers, Barber worked for The Daily Targum, the school's independent student run newspaper with a circulation of 17,000 and a readership of 32,500. As a sophomore, Barber became the paper's sports editor and stayed in that role until becoming the editor in chief in February of 2000. During his time at the Targum, Barber won four New Jersey Press Association collegiate writing awards - two for features, one for sports writing, and one for investigative news.

After graduating with a bachelors degree in journalism and communication and a certificate in criminology in 2001, Barber went to the Newark Star-Ledger as an intern. There he covered the New York Liberty of the WNBA and minor league baseball, along with a variety of other sports assignments.

At the conclusion of his internship, Barber freelanced briefly for MLB before landing his current position at the DNR.

Barber grew up in Park Ridge, NJ where he graduated from Park Ridge High School in 1997. While at school he was senior class president, editor in chief of the school paper and sat the bench on a state championship football team.

Barber's immediate family - his mother Toni, father Ned and younger sister Ashley - resides in Park Ridge.