Three new members will enter the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame on October 19.

Naomi Schalit, John Christie and Larry Mahoney have been selected by the MPA’s Hall of Fame Committee and will be inducted during the luncheon at this year’s fall conference in Bar Harbor.

After decades-long careers in Maine journalism, Naomi Schalit and John Christie founded the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which publishes The Maine Monitor today.  With a commitment to delivering fearless, hard-hitting and non-partisan journalism, the two took on some of the state’s thorniest and complicated issues showing the public all dimensions of a complex problem.

In 2009 the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting was born and its first story, researched and written by John, examined the role of money, influence and personal relationships in Gov. John Baldacci’s handling of tax reform legislation.

When they were done with their reporting, they gave it away for free to any newsroom across the state that wanted to publish it. That first story also ran in the Bangor Daily News, the Lewiston Sun Journal, The Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander. MCPIR was off and running.

Christie and Schalit were pioneers of Maine’s non-profit media landscape, believing that the model would sustain the organization. Fifteen years later, the company has grown from two to 11 employees and delivers its content to more than 10,200 subscribers.

Larry Mahoney has been the face of sports at the Bangor Daily News for more than 50 years.

During his time at the BDN, Mahoney has covered sports at all levels and is a staple on the sidelines and in press boxes of high schools and colleges throughout the state. He likely possesses more knowledge about local athletes than anyone else in Maine.

Mahoney has been the beat writer for the University of Maine’s men hockey team since its inception and covered the program’s NCAA national championship in 1993 and 1999. He also covered the state championship high school field hockey games in 1976—the first year that even existed in Maine.

In 2023, Mahoney wrote 598 bylined stories, a typical year in the newspaper’s estimation. That would put Mahoney at about 30,000 stories over the course of his career—so far.

Mahoney has also been recognized as Maine Sportswriter of the Year six times by national media associations.

The MPA Hall of Fame, established in 1998, honors newspaper people with Maine connections who have made outstanding contributions to the profession. Its members are on the MPA website, at http://mainepressassociation.org/hall-of-fame/.

Tickets to the October 19 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which takes place during the luncheon, are available by contacting MPA Executive Director Diane Norton at mainepressmail@gmail.com or 691-0131.