PROVIDENCE — The Provincetown Independent was named Newspaper of the Year among the region’s small weekly newspapers at the fall conference of the New England Newspaper and Press Association on Sept. 21.
The two runners-up in the group were the Vermont Standard, in Woodstock, founded in 1853 and the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, in Peterborough, N.H.
The press association represents more than 450 daily, weekly, and specialty papers in the six New England states. For this contest, the association appoints readers to evaluate entries. Judges consider the quality of reporting and writing, use of photos, design, and presentation. They’re also asked to consider “whether the newspaper reflects and cares about the community it serves.”
Other awards at the conference honored an impressive array of reporting and editorial writing — including stories on abuse in nursing homes in Rhode Island, on flooding in Vermont, and on the mass shooting in October 2023 in Lewiston, Maine. The Berkshire Eagle won the award for best editorial, about a police raid on an eighth-grade classroom in Pittsfield, where police were looking for LGBTQ literature.
In the category of larger weeklies, the 2024 Newspaper of the Year is Seven Days, which has won the award in the past. It is a Vermont statewide weekly with a circulation of more than 35,000.
