Press wins award for excellence at New England Press convention, staff recognized in five categories

The Harvard Press won first place for general excellence among weekly newspapers Saturday night, May 6, at the 2023 New England Newspaper & Press Association’s annual convention. The New England Better Newspaper competition included 2,000 entries this year in categories ranging from reporting to photography to general excellence.

The previous evening, Press editor John Osborn was inducted into the NENPA Hall of Fame along with four other New England journalists (see “Osborn inducted into New England Newspaper & Press Association Hall of Fame”).

The applicants for the award in the “general excellence” category were asked to submit two copies of their paper within given time periods of the preceding year. The Press’ win for general excellence in a weekly paper with circulation under 5,000 was judged on the following criteria.

• Local news and feature content: writing, reporting, significance of stories and presentation; community service news, leadership shown in news and feature selection.
• Editorial page: writing quality, community impact, variety and quality of other content on the editorial page.
• Advertising: presence of a substantial advertising offering, presentation and page layout.
• Presentation: use of headlines, use of photos, arrangement and selection of stories for reader appeal, structure, and makeup and typography of the entire newspaper.
• Digital products: content quality, utility, navigability, and appearance of digital products.

Former Press intern Lily Robinson poses with her first-place award for climate change or weather reporting. (Courtesy photo)

Recognition for reporters, photographers

Former Press intern and correspondent Lily Robinson won first place in the climate change or weather reporting category for her three-part series on the impact of climate change on Harvard.

In addition to Robinson’s award, Press photographers and reporters collected awards in five other categories.

• Joan Eliyesil
  Second place, COVID reporting: “Reporter’s Notebook: Ten days with COVID-19 ... a cautionary tale,” in which the reporter offered a firsthand account of coping with the viral illness.
• Lisa Aciukewicz
  Second place, feature photo: “Another pandemic Christmas,” depicting Santa greeting a youngster with an elbow-bump.
• Jen Manell
  Third place, community engagement: Press photographer Manell, who is co-advisor on the Hildreth Elementary School’s newspaper, Husky News, provided Press readers with a glimpse into the school newspaper.
• Tim Clark and Rob Williams
  Third place, photo story: “Harvard firefighters fall one point short of victory at 85th annual Wachusett Muster League Fire Muster,” a two-page spread documenting the muster.
• John Osborn
  Third place, sports story: “Bromfield boys win in overtime for fourth consecutive state soccer championship,” which describes a game that remained scoreless until Bromfield finally prevailed in a 1-0 overtime victory.

Members of the Press pose with first-place award for General Excellence. From left, Sue Robbins, John Osborn, and Lisa Aciukewicz. (Courtesy photo)