Observer wins five MPA awards
AUBURN — The Piscataquis Observer won five awards in the 2014 Maine Press Association Better Newspaper Contest as the organization held its annual fall conference Oct. 18 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn.
Staff Writer Mike Lange won a first-place award in the Environmental Story-Weekly 1 division for his coverage of the First Wind hearing in Bingham; a second-place award in the Opinion Columnist category; and a third-place honor in the News Photo-Weekly 1 division for the picture of some youngsters eating apples at the Dexter Community Playground Festival last year.
Staff Writer Stu Hedstrom won a third-place award in the Sports Game Story-Weekly division for his coverage of the Foxcroft Academy-Waterville football game last year.
The Observer also won a third-place award in the Best Young Reader Engagement Idea-Weekly for its annual Newspapers in Education section. Northeast Publishing swept the top three places with the Aroostook Republican taking first place and the Houlton Pioneer Times finishing second.
The Portland Press Herald, Mount Desert Islander, York Weekly and Maine Sunday Telegram were the major winners in the Better Newspaper Contest General Excellence-Print division while the Wiscasset Newspaper/Boothbay Register and Press Herald/Telegram received top honors for General Excellence-Digital. This was the first year that the MPA held a separate contest for digital entries, reflecting the increased viewership of Internet news sites.
The Journalist of the Year award went to Colin Woodard of the Portland Press Herald; the Advertising Person of the Year is Brenda Allen of the Portland Press Herald; Dominik Lobkowicz of the Lincoln County News won the Bob Drake Young Writers Award; and Gary Gagne of the Maine Daily Newspaper Network was honored by the the Unsung Hero of the Year.
The new Hall of Fame inductees were the late Robert Crocker, a longtime Associated Press State House reporter; and Richard Dudman, a retired St. Louis Post Dispatch correspondent and editorial writer for the Bangor Daily News.
A complete list of winners is at http://mainepress.wordpress.com.