Writers and editors of the Penobscot Bay Pilot (penbaypilot.com) took home a variety of first, second, third and special project awards, in the Weekly 2 category (weekly newspapers with a circulation of more than 4,000, and digital-only news sites) at the annual Maine Press Association Conference in South Portland, Oct. 29. The Pilot, as well as its sister media Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspaper, were cited for writing, photographer, and digital projects awards. The Boothbay Register also took home first place in the Weekly 1 category for general excellence digital for its website.

The Pilot awards are as follows:

Eva Murray, First Place, Local Columnist, for her piece, “Maine Veterans and most sentimental biker.” Judges wrote: “A fascinating, conversational and moving account of Maine’s Honor Flight of veterans traveling to Washington.”

Ron Hawkes, First Place, Sports News Story, “How and why Camden Hills High School leaders terminated the 2015 football season.” Judges wrote: “This kind of thing doesn’t happen very often, where the dangers of playing football affect an entire small program, and yet the numbers just weren’t there to safely play.”

Holly Edwards, First Place, Spot News Photo, “Down the Ladder.” Judges wrote: “Great timing on getting out there and shooting a solid moment of the officials helping him out.”

Holly Edwards, Third Place, News Photo, “Mailbox.” Judges wrote: “It looks like there is news that has happened but I can’t move this mailbox out of my way to see it!...”

Kay Stephens, Third Place, Business Story, “Union woman opens free thrift shop in her home, giving away items to anyone in need”  Judges wrote: Nice job of looking beyond standard business/economic news and finding a human story that illustrates all the economic statistics.

Lynda Clancy, First Place, Education Story, “Camden Hills High School swamped by emails, calls from across country following administrator’s Facebook post”  Judges wrote: “The first of two winners in this category illustrating the power of social networks to watchdog and sensationalize, while helping tip writers to great subject matter for educational writing. Painfully meticulous detailing of the cause and effect of this local principal’s Facebook post evidences great talent for organization and a flair for getting a long-form story across in a highly readable and engaging style.” 

Lynda Clancy, First Place, Analysis, “Knox RCC, On the front line with every emergency”  Judges wrote: “A very thorough overview and introduction of the communication center and its employees. Most readers don’t know that dispatchers are one of the most important parts of any community or county emergency services organization. This story revealed it to them. Nice job.”

Lynda Clancy, First Place, Scenic Photo, L'Hermione.” Judges wrote: “...good pallets and conveyed a feeling.”

Lynda Clancy, Second Place, Special Online Project, “L’Hermione glides to Castine with pageantry and so many friends” Judges wrote: “This special project makes the reader feel as if they are on Penobscot Bay as the French ship sailed in port on Bastille Day in 2015. The sounds and sights of the event are captured in both the video and large photo gallery as the replica ship, L’Hermione, cut its way carefully through the fog. In her photo gallery, Lynda Clancy does a wonderful job chronicling the large flotilla of smaller boats and the Maine residents, both on land and sea, who were thrilled to be part of the celebration. Her article nicely weaves together the history of L’Hermione and Major General LaFayette with a detailed description of the 2015 visit to Penobscot Bay. This coverage of a ‘day of living history’ is a satisfying read for both the history buff and the moder multi-media navigator.”

Lynda Clancy, Second Place, News Video, “Hope horsewoman readies Wyoming mustang for Aug. 8 Extreme Makeover” Judge wrote: “.... a nice little story arc showing the training of a horse. A couple of nice moments caught on film. I would have liked to have seen more variety in the shots. Details help tell your story. Look for them when you shoot.” 

The annual MPA conference took place in Portland this year, and drew more than 100 reporters, editors, publishers, advertising staff, production crews and others to the congregation of print and digital news outlets.

Earlier in the day, the association inducted three new members to its Hall of Fame: Rex Rhoades, former executive editor of the Sun Journal in Lewiston; Steve Solloway, sports columnist for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram for 25 years; and Hugh Bowden, retired editor, editorial and sports writer, and executive editor of The Ellsworth American. 

The Bangor Daily News, the Mount Desert Islander of Bar Harbor, The Courier-Gazette of Rockland and the Maine Sunday Telegram have been honored by the Maine Press Association for General Excellence in print newspapers.

The Bangor Daily News and the Boothbay Register took top honors for digital General Excellence in the MPA’s Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards were presented Saturday night at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in South Portland, concluding a day of workshops for journalists, advertising staff and newsroom managers throughout the state.

In the General Excellence competition for print newspapers, the Bangor Daily News was judged the best daily in Maine while the Maine Sunday Telegram was the weekend Newspaper of the Year for the sixth time in seven years.

The contest judge wrote of the Bangor Daily News, “This is a great local paper that serves the public with excellence” while declaring the Maine Sunday Telegram, “is a great example of a newspaper that still provides its readers with a mountain of excellent content.”

In the Weekly 1 division, for newspapers with less than 4,000 print circulation, the Mount Desert Islander was described as having “an interesting mix of news; special sections are interesting and filled with local content -- a refreshing change from most markets” while the Weekly 2 winner, The Courier-Gazette, was lauded for its “coherent design, good use of color, very newsy” content.

The Mount Desert Islander has been named Newspaper of the Year 10 times since 2006 – six times in the Weekly 1 division and four straight years in Weekly 2 (4,000 and over circulation). 

The General Excellence winner for websites among daily/weekend papers, the Bangor Daily News, was cited for having “the most interesting digital offering of all Maine’s papers. BDN’s forays into video complement what is strong and fluid state house coverage that serves its region well.”

Judges praised the weekly division winner, the Boothbay Register, explaining “A small and local publication is going to do best when it foregrounds information that others don’t provide. Local minutiae is what a community audience wants and I was able to find it immediately upon getting to the Register’s site.”

The Mount Desert Islander won the Freedom of Information first-place award in the weekly category, while the Sun Journal took top honors in the daily/weekend division.

Erin Rhoda of the Bangor Daily News was named the Journalist of the Year while Jean Berg of the Portland Press Herald was the Advertising Person of the Year. 

Abigail W. Adams of the Lincoln County News won the Bob Drake Young Writer’s Award, and Jeanne Luetjen was honored by the MPA as the Unsung Hero of the Year.

A complete list of 2016 award winners will be posted next week on the MPA’s website: www.mainepressassociation.org