Four Aroostook County weekly newspapers owned by the Bangor Daily News received more than 40 awards from the Maine Press Association during the annual MPA conference and banquet in South Portland on Saturday.
The Houlton Pioneer Times led the way, winning the general excellence award in the Weekly 1 print newspaper category for papers with fewer than 2,000 subscribers or distribution.
“This is a true community newspaper, with every story something that will be of interest to the readers,” contest judges from the Utah Press Association said regarding the Houlton Pioneer Times.
Leading the way for the Houlton Pioneer Times was reporter Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli, who earned a first-place award for her story on Patten’s select board calling for a vote on the Pickett Mountain mining resolution. Tomaselli also received two second-place awards and three third-place honors for her work.
Former Houlton Pioneer Times reporter Joe Cyr took home two second-place honors for his photography. Phalen Tomaselli, Kelly Drake and Lanette Virtanen earned second place in the Specialty Page Design category for a business tribute. Virtanen is the newspaper’s primary page designer.
Reporter Melissa Lizotte of the Aroostook Republican & News was the top individual honoree for the weeklies, taking home five first-place awards, four second-place honors, and three third-place finishes. Lizotte’s first-place awards were for stories on businesses trying to revive downtown Caribou; a double-murder trial; a feature on a museum’s replica barbershop; an outdoors story on efforts to repopulate brook trout; and her feature photo of a child sliding down a hill in a snow tube.
The Star-Herald was paced by reporter Paul Bagnall’s first-place news photo of a Presque Isle landfill and assistant editor Paula Brewer’s five second-place honors and a third place for reporting on topics from the lack of electric vehicle chargers in Aroostook County to an effort to grow climate-resistant potatoes.
Former reporter Jessica Potila led the St. John Valley Times with 10 individual awards, including first-place finishes for her stories on the first woman to win the Can-Am 250 sled dog race and a female coach leading a men’s college basketball team. Potila received five second-place finishes and three third-place honors.
