BANGOR — The Maine Press Association named the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram best daily and weekend newspapers at the MPA’s annual Better Newspaper Contest awards ceremony Saturday.
Among weekly newspapers, the Mount Desert Islander of Bar Harbor and The Republican Journal of Belfast won in their respective divisions.
The Bangor Daily News, The Camden Herald/The Republican Journal and the Mount Desert Islander received top honors for their websites.
The Sun Journal won the highest award for excellence in advertising.
Erin Place, staff writer for the Advertiser-Democrat in Norway, was given the FOI Award in the weekly category for her work in obtaining public records while reporting on the OUI arrest and subsequent suspension of former Paris Police Chief Michael Madden.
The Portland Press Herald was awarded the Freedom of Information Award in the daily category.
The Sun Journal accepted a total of 40 honors at the Bangor conference, including nine first-place awards for photography, video, graphics, news writing, editorial cartooning, column writing, sports writing, design and advertising.
Staff writer Lindsay Tice took first place in the news story category for her analysis of Maine’s public defender system and whether the state’s one-in-the-nation system of hiring private attorneys to represent defendants rather than staff public defender offices is cost-effective and adequately upholds the rights of those facing trial.
Sports writer Kevin Mills took top honors in sports profile for his long-term project examining the evolution of boys’ soccer at Lewiston High School and the impact of the Somali immigrants on the game over the past decade.
Sports writer Kalle Oakes won the top award for sports columnist for his “The Hot Corner” columns. On Sept. 8, 2014, he wrote “Troubling trend continues” about the resignation of Spruce Mountain High School boys’ soccer coach Larry Thornton, and on Feb. 9, 2014, he wrote “Big Bang Theory works for surgeon” about the foray of Auburn surgeon Dr. Steve Bang into the sport of mixed martial arts.
Sports editor Justin Pelletier took the top sports page design award for his sports section advancing the Oxford 250 in 2014. The section featured a front-to-back “wrapped” image of the track, a list of drivers to watch, race schedule and a feature story titled “The intangibles” of the race.
Page designer Ernie Anderson earned first place for editorial cartoonist. His piece, “The Pen is Still Mightier than the Sword,” depicts a sword, along the length of which, written in blood, are the names of the five cartoonists for the French political satire magazine “Charlie Hebdo” who died at the hands of terrorists. A second entry, “Nothing to see here, folks,” offers commentary on legislation that would have removed many of western Maine’s points of interest from signs on the turnpike. The third entry, “Deflategate,” shows Patriots coach Bill Belichick deflating a football with Grantland Rice’s words on it: “For when the Great Scorer comes to mark your name, He writes — not that you won or lost — but how you played the game.”
Chief Photographer Russ Dillingham received top honors in sports video for his video titled “We love the pain,” featuring the Bates College men’s and women’s rowing teams practicing on the Androscoggin River in Greene in April 2014. In the piece, the rowers talk about the “magic” of “flying,” and Dillingham captures the sounds of rowers working the oars as they move across the water.
Dot Gosselin and Leo Baillargeon won highest honors for sponsorship page for their full-page advertising design highlighting boys’ baseball.
Former staff photographer Amber Waterman won first place in sports photo for her image of 5-year-old race walker Brodyn Rodrigue of the Auburn Parks and Recreation Track Club competing against William Wallingford of the Poland area Panther Track Club in a regional qualifying meet at Edward Little High School in July 2014. In the image, Rodrigue is peeking sideways to see how fast Wallingford is gaining.
Former Sun Journal graphic designer Susan Broadbent won top honors in the graphics category for her words-on-image illustration for a Tice story on sex trafficking in Maine. The darkened image of a crouched young woman is covered with words including “vulnerable,” “abuse,” “money,” “arrests,” “wrong and broken” and other negatives of the sex trade.
Sun Journal second-place winners were:
Daryn Slover, sports video; Brewster Burns, people photo; Slover, feature photo; Broadbent and Heather McCarthy, illustration; McCarthy, graphic; staff, feature section; Mark LaFlamme, spot news; Tice, education; Tice, health; Oakes, game story; Oakes, sports spot news; Oakes, sports profile; Pelletier, sports page design; Pelletier, sports section; staff, freedom of information; and Baillargeon, best advertising supplement cover.
Third-place winners were:
Dillingham, news video; Slover, news photo; Slover, spot news photo; Slover, scenic photo; Dillingham, feature photo; staff, feature section; Christopher Williams, spot news story; Tice, investigative report; Tice, feature story; Pete Phelan, feature headline; staff, news/sports headline; Kathryn Skelton, business story; Mills, sports spot news story; and Pelletier, sports page design.
Portland Press Herald reporter Scott Dolan was named Journalist of the Year, honored for his move challenging District Court Judge Jeffrey Moskowitz in January 2015 after the judge cut a deal with a defendant, a noted criminal defense attorney, to restrict media reporting on a plea hearing in a domestic violence case.
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