Messenger, group papers win awards
BOSTON — Staff members from the St. Albans Messenger, along with its sister publications from the Champlain Valley Newspaper Group — including the Milton Independent, Essex Reporter, Colchester Sun, Addison Independent and the Mountain Times (Killington area) — attended the 2013 New England Newspaper Association convention in Boston this past weekend.
The weekend culminated with Saturday night’s awards banquet. The Messenger — competing in the Daily Class One category for daily newspapers with a circulation of up to 30,000 subscribers — won seven first place awards and was nominated for 13 other journalism and advertising award, one of the strongest showings among New England daily newspapers.
Editorial awards were:
• Editorial writing: Emerson Lynn, first place.
• Ethnic issue reporting: Michelle Monroe, second place.
• Local election reporting: Michelle Monroe, second place
• Community involvement, third place.
The Messenger also was awarded first place for:
• Business innovation
• Newspaper sponsored event promotion
The Messenger again carried away top honors in numerous advertising/marketing categories, which was an extension of the paper’s general excellence awards won in 2011 and 2012.
Courtney Lamdin, editor and reporter at the Milton Independent, won a first-place award for race or ethnic issue coverage in the Weekly Class One category (weekly papers with a circulation of up to a 6,000 reader circulation). She won two second place awards; one for local personality profile, and one for environmental reporting.
“We are extremely proud of our staffs at the Messenger and the Milton Independent, “ said co-publishers Emerson and Suzanne Lynn in a written statement. “The fact that they excelled when competing against newspapers five times their circulation size is a testament to their professionalism and their talent.”
The Messenger and Independent are part of the Champlain Valley New Group, all together, the papers were nominated for 47 awards.
Go to http://storify.com/Ian_Lord/2013-new-england-newspaper-association-conve... for a Storify.com piece on the NENPA conference with photos and tweets from Messenger and Independent staff members.
