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The Maine Press Association Contest eligibility year comes to a close on March 31. Rules packages and entry forms will be sent out shortly after that.
At the MPA board meeting on Feb. 23, several changes were proposed. No categories were added for this year, although the trend of combining some weekly categories and the daily/weekend categories continues.
One proposed change is that the “Advertising layout” category would become Advertising Excellence and based on a paper’s complete advertising presentation. It would be elevated to a Special Award and announced at the end of the awards ceremony with overall General Excellence.
This year, the only categories to be judged separately based on circulation in the weekly divisions (Weekly 1 and Weekly 2) would be General Excellence, Advertising Excellence, editorial page, news story and feature story. All other categories would be combined.
In acknowledgement that weekend papers no longer have independent staffs, there would not be separate writing, design and photography categories for daily and weekend papers. Weekend and daily papers would remain separate for consideration only in the General Excellence and Advertising Excellence categories.
Stories, photos and advertisements that appear in the weekend editions, like those that appear online, would still be eligible for entry in all regular categories.
Photo entries would still be made via Troy Bennett’s upload site, with the exception of picture story. That category, which involves multiple photo submissions, would be judged based on tear sheets and considered a design category, as the total package’s presentation to readers would be considered by the judges.
The board plans a final vote on these proposals at its meeting March 22. The MPA welcomes members’ comments, concerns or suggestions for additional changes, which can be sent to mainepressmail@gmail.com
For the fourth time in eight years, the Mount Desert Islander of Bar Harbor has won first place in the General Excellence category for smaller weeklies in the New England Newspaper and Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
Winners for 2011 in a variety of news and advertising divisions were announced Feb. 11 at the regional association’s annual convention in Boston. Maine Press Association members won more than 60 awards in the contest, including 25 first-place awards. Those first-place winners were:
Staff, The Ellsworth American, Business Page or Section, Weekly Class 2
Jacqueline Weaver, The Ellsworth American, Spot News Photo, Weekly Class 2
Staff, The Ellsworth American, Living Page or Section, Weekly Class 2
Staff, The Ellsworth American, Local Election Coverage, Weekly Class
Staff, The Ellsworth American, Sports Page or Section, Weekly Class
Hugh Bowden, The Ellsworth American, Personality Photo, Weekly Class 2
Chris Crockett, The Ellsworth American, Website Design, Weekly Class
The Ellsworth American, Ad Rate Card/Rating Strategy, Weekly Class
The Ellsworth American, Advertising Sales Media Kit, Weekly Class
The Ellsworth American, Advertising Sales Presentation, Weekly Class
The Ellsworth American, Advertising Supplement/Special Section, Weekly Class 2
The Ellsworth American, Audience Building Promotion, Weekly Class
The Ellsworth American, Automotive Display Ad, Weekly Class
The Ellsworth American, Newspaper-Sponsored Event Promotion, Weekly Class
Michelle Snowden, Mount Desert Islander, Illustration, Weekly Class 1
Staff, Mount Desert Islander, Front Page, Weekly Class 1
Mount Desert Islander, Best Idea for Generating Ad Revenue, Weekly Class
Mount Desert Islander, Local Ad in Color, Weekly Class 1
Mount Desert Islander, Real Estate Display Ad, Weekly Class 1
Mount Desert Islander, General Excellence, Weekly Class 1
Boothbay Register, Advertising Supplement/Special Section, Weekly Class 1
Boothbay Register, Themed, Banner or Sponsored Ad Page, Weekly Class
Boothbay Register, Advertising General Excellence, Weekly Class 1
Laura Snyder Smith, The York Weekly, Living Page or Section, Weekly Class 1
A.M. Sheehan and Matt Hongoltz-Hetling, Advertiser-Democrat, Special Award, Weekly Class 1
To see complete results from the NENPA contest, go to: http://www.nenpa.com/
The Advertiser Democrat of Norway has earned a prestigious George Polk Award for its in-depth report in October on poor living conditions in low-income housing in western Maine.
Polk awards are among journalism’s top honors. Winners announced along with the Advertiser Democrat on Feb. 20 included The New York Times, The New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal. The Maine weekly won for Local Reporting.
The award recognizes Editor A.M. Sheehan and Assistant Editor Matt Hongoltz-Hetling for their three-month investigation exposing dismal conditions in which residents who get Section 8 assistance lived in Norway and neighboring Paris.
The Maine State Housing Authority, an administrator of the program, began an investigation within a few hours of the piece’s publication on Oct. 27. Since then, oversight has improved and tenants have been relocated.
In notifying the paper of its award, John Darnton, curator of the George Polk Awards, said “it was an easy choice … judges agreed that your work was extraordinarily reported and written and carried a major impact.”
The 2011 George Polk Awards will be presented at a luncheon at The Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan on April 5. Read more in the Advertiser Democrat.
MaineToday Media announced Feb. 10 that a multimillion-dollar loan will enable it to pay down debt and fund an ambitious growth plan.
In a story published in the company’s three daily newspapers, MaineToday Media said it has reached terms with Maine Values LLC that includes the loan, valued at $3 million to $4 million. Maine Values is owned by S. Donald Sussman of North Haven, a wealthy financier who is the husband of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine.
Sussman will own a 5 percent equity stake in the company and have a seat on the board of directors, said the story in The Portland Press Herald, the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel.
Sussman said he won’t be involved in the daily operations of the newspapers or in hiring and news coverage.
Read the full story.
After publishing for 41 years, the Moosehead Messenger of Greenville put out its last issue on Feb. 9. The weekly newspaper ceased publication due to economic factors and the owner’s desire to pursue other ventures.
“We certainly do not view our decision to cease publishing the Messenger as a defeat, but as a personal choice for us,” said Publisher Aggie Purinton in a statement about the paper’s closure. “Our journey has not been without obstacles along the way and many of them were too difficult to overcome.”
The Messenger has been managed by Bangor-based Hometown Newspapers LLC since January 2011.
Robert Pushard, publisher of Hometown Newspapers, said, “While we hate to see any newspaper close, we understand Aggie’s position and support her 100 percent. … These are very tough economic times, and the advertising revenue to support two independent weekly newspapers in a market that small just isn’t there.”
A second weekly serving the Greenville area, Moosehead Matters, began publication in 2007.
Some of the Messenger’s popular features will be carried in Hometown Newspapers’ new Highlands Journal-Moosehead Times, which will debut Feb. 16, including the American Legion Post 94 column, Milt’s Mutterings, the Moosehead Service Directory and stories by award-winning writers Fran Emmons and Shelagh Talbot.
