The Reporter honored by New York Press Association: Awarded prizes for editorial content
Your hometown paper brought home two prestigious writing awards from the New York Press Association’s (NYPA) Spring Convention, held Thursday and Friday, April 23-24, in Saratoga.
Editor Ambrose Clancy won the coveted Writer of the Year award and our columnist Nancy Green was honored with a third place for columns.
Judged by members of another Press Association, NYPA’s “Better Newspaper Contest” fielded more than 3,000 entries from more than 154 newspapers across the state. Participating newspapers competed for awards in 68 categories.
Most categories are divided by three divisions, defined by the circulation number of the papers, and winners are honored by category from each division. The Writer of the Year award, however, is selected from all entries from all divisions.
The Reporter’s entries by Mr. Clancy for this award included a profile of a bayman; an in-depth look at the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants and its affect on Shelter Islanders; a column on obituaries; a look at the unsolved Island homicide of Rev. Paul Wancura; and a story on Animal Control Officer Jenny Zahler and her adventures attempting to bring Pablo the Peacock back home.
The judges said about Mr. Clancy’s work: “Outstanding hard news entries, and his column about obituaries was one of the best things I read in this competition.”
Ms. Green’s elegantly written columns on social issues that Islanders deal with received this appraisal from the judges: “Well-written, well-reasoned columns on community topics.” Her entries were headlined: “Why should we care about pre-school?;” “When a pharmacy closes;” and, “The anguish of family estrangement.”
Our sister papers and magazines were also honored by the Press Association. Editor Amy Zavatto took home a first place award for feature writing; Times Review’s Digital Editor Angela Colangeo was honored with a third place award for Online Breaking News; former Suffolk Times staffer Amanda Olsen won a second place prize for feature writing; Northforker magazine took second place for Best Cover, and Chrissy Sampson won a third place award for feature writing.
Congratulations to all for these major achievements. And most of all, thanks to the Reporter’s readers and advertisers, who support and inspire us, week in and week out.
