The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram swept three top prizes for general excellence at the annual Maine Press Association awards Saturday evening.
The newspapers won the categories for daily paper, weekend paper and website. They came away with 69 total awards, including two dozen first place finishes in photo, advertising, design, news and opinion categories. Two employees also received special recognition as the unsung hero and advertising person of the year.
The COVID-19 pandemic was the theme of many news stories that earned top marks. Among them were Joe Lawlor’s story about Mainers who recovered from the virus and told of lingering health effects, Kelley Bouchard’s reporting about people grappling with their faith in such an uncertain time, Randy Billings’ account of a family concerned with patient care at a nursing home, and a story by Mike Lowe and Steve Craig about high school athletes training without the promise of fans or playoffs.
But the association recognized coverage on other topics as well. The photo staff earned first place for a picture story on protests against racial injustice. Business reporter Penelope Overton won for her reporting on the hemp market in Maine, outdoor reporter Deirdre Fleming for her writing about a woman who spent the winter in an off-the-grid cabin, and Colin Woodard for his story about a conflict over dams in the Kennebec River. And the newspapers’ staff received more than three dozen second- and third-place prizes across categories.
This was the third consecutive year that the Press Herald was judged the best daily newspaper in Maine, and the eleventh time in 12 years that the Maine Sunday Telegram won the weekend category.
The Maine Press Association also named Keith Taylor as this year’s Unsung Hero. Taylor is the nightside distribution manager for MaineToday Media. Lisa DeSisto, the company’s CEO, said he has worked to get the newspapers out for more than four decades.
“We would be lost without him,” DeSisto said. “He’s a logistics master, oversees a complex operation and runs the shop with urgency and accuracy.”
Jane Patriquin, corporate sales executive for MaineToday Media, won the association’s Advertising Person of the Year award. Courtney Spencer, vice president of advertising, described Patriquin as persistent, curious and compassionate. She praised Patriquin’s success particularly with national clients.
“Jane’s recommendations made their ads more impactful on the state level,” Spencer said. “Being local and being the eyes on the street was her superpower.”
The Maine Press Association, established in 1864, holds an annual conference and awards ceremony. For the second year in a row, the event was held virtually because of health risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The membership includes 45 newspapers and digital news sites.
Read some of the award-winning stories:
• The Recovered: Mainers tell their COVID-19 stories
• No fans, no playoffs. So what’s motivating high school athletes this winter?
• 4 dams, the future of Kennebec fish runs and salmon’s survival at stake in federal licensing battle
• Family of deceased resident of Belfast nursing home raises alarm over patient care
• Mainers grapple with faith amid the coronovirus pandemic
• Farmers lose hope – and money – in race to build Maine’s hemp market
• Spending the winter in an off-the-grid cabin in the Maine woods
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