Community newspapers win New England press awards

Newspaper group publisher and editor Greg Popa won first place for the Stowe Guide & Magazine in the competition’s Best Niche Publication category. The Guide had previously placed first in the same category from 2010-2022, with one third place showing.

“We are fortunate to have such a talented group of writers and photographers who provide content for our magazine — many of whom also write and shoot pictures for our newspapers,” Popa said. “These continued first-place awards are really a testament to their skill and talent. I’m proud of them all and feel fortunate to work alongside them.”

Journalism awards

Among the competition’s first place journalism awards, the judges recognized two different reports of a devastating fire that destroyed the Percy family’s iconic Stowe dairy barn in early 2022. Aaron Calvin won first place in the General News Story category for his Stowe Reporter story “130 cows, historic barn lost in Percy farm fire.”

Rob Kiener placed first in the Human Interest Feature Story category for “A town responds,” which covered the aftermath of the Percy farm fire for the magazine.

Also winning a top spot was Tommy Gardner – first place in Crime and Courts Reporting for his News & Citizen series about an Elmore man who killed his wife and himself.

The newspapers also won numerous second- and third-place reporting awards:

• Gardner tied — with himself — for second place in the Business/Economic Reporting category. The stories were “Dairy dazed: Farmers look past Horizon,” a series about dairy farmers left in the lurch by a national organic dairy conglomerate; and “Liquor merchants educate customers on Russian vodka ban,” a story about how Vermont stores pulled the product from their shelves in the early days of the war with Ukraine.

• Gardner placed second in the Sports Story category with “Raiders repeat as tennis champs,” about the Stowe High School girls’ tennis team beating South Burlington two years in a row.”

• A Stowe Reporter series about the traffic jams last winter along Mountain Road garnered Gardner a silver in the Transportation Reporting category.

• Gardner finished second to Kiener in the same Human Interest Feature Story category with “A Buffalo Man,” a Guide story about a New York guy who dressed in a dirndl and traveled to Trapp Family Lodge for Oktoberfest.

• Avalon Styles-Ashley, a former reporter for The Other Paper, won second place in the category Racial, Ethnic or Gender Issue Coverage for her reporting in the OP on a former South Burlington High School teacher under investigation for racial harassment.

• Kiener placed second in Arts & Entertaining Reporting for his Guide piece, “Man of Steel,” about sculptor David Stromeyer.

• Styles-Ashley and Calvin shared a third-place award in the Health Reporting category for “Staffing shortage creates disparity in nursing pay,” an in-depth look at hospitals’ reliance on traveling nurses that ran in all Vermont Community Newspaper Group publications.

• Calvin won third place in the Obituaries category for his Stowe Reporter piece “Marvin Moriarty remembered: Olympic skier, bar brawler, fashion influencer,” the title of which really tells it all.

• Calvin placed third in Government Reporting for his News & Citizen coverage of the drama behind the scenes at Cambridge’s Varnum Memorial Library.

• Calvin’s series of News & Citizen stories about the village of Johnson refusing to divulge information about upheaval in the water and light department resulted in a third-place finish in the Right-to-Know category. The newspaper also won a victory by prevailing in a public records lawsuit against the village.

The Stowe Reporter, News & Citizen and Stowe Guide & Magazine also collected a passel of second- and third-place photography awards.

Photographer Gordon Miller collected the most awards, earning awards for Spot News (the Percy barn fire); General News (kids on a slip-and-slide); Feature Photo (an angler fly fishing in the mist); and two different Portrait Photo entries (a primitive biathlete competitor and a self-portrait of artist Jamie Rauchman).

• Paul Rogers got second place in the Photo Story category for “Man of Steel.”

• Nathanael Asaro took third in the Pictorial Photo category for a photo of “Mystical Mansfield.”

• Publisher Popa was in the right spot at the right time to snap a third-place Spot News photo of a truck stuck in Smugglers Notch.

Advertising design

The Stowe Reporter and News & Citizen production design team also took home several awards, matching the newsroom in the number of first-place awards, with four.

The team won first place in the Themed Multiple Advertiser Page(s) category for the popular Stowe Reporter section “What’s on the menu?” And the team also won Best Holiday Ad for Wolcott Garage’s ad in News & Citizen.

Production manager Katerina Hrdlicka got first in Best Real Estate Ad for her work with Academy Mortgage Company. Designer Kristen Braley won for Automotive Display Ad for her work with Lamoille Valley Chevrolet, located between the roundabouts in Hyde Park and Morrisville.

The designers won second and third place awards in the following categories.

• The design staff with Advertiser Campaign (Body Lounge) in the Stowe Reporter, as well as color Local Display ad for Five Star.

• In the News & Citizen, the staff got nods for black and white Local Display Ad (Caledonia Fair) and Special Section for RIDE, the annual mountain bike supplement.

• Braley took home four design awards: Best Holiday Ad (Empower MedSpa for Valentine’s Day); black and white Local Display ad (Body Lounge); Real Estate Display Ad (Pall Spera); and Best Health Ad (Empower MedSpa).

• Hrdlicka also nabbed an award in the Advertising Sales Media Kit category for the rate card sent to would-be advertisers.

“It’s great to be recognized by your peers, particularly after the last three years of COVID-19. Hopefully our communities know how hard this team works to serve them,” Popa said.