The newspapers of Maine-OK Enterprises, Boothbay Register, Wiscasset Newspaper and Pen Bay Pilot, won 20 awards at the annual Maine Press Association Better Newspaper Contest at the MPA’s fall conference held Saturday, Oct. 22 at Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Event Center in Bar Harbor. 

Wiscasset reporter and assistant editor Susan Johns hauled in eight awards – three firsts, two seconds and three thirds. Her first place awards were for Features/Lifestyle video (Wiscasset resumes Fourth of July traditions); People photo (Pace car pride); and News Headline (Icy review: Alna complains about contractor’s response to Jan. 5 conditions); second place awards were for News Video (A Winterfest nonetheless) and Editorial (Hold the expletives); and third place awards were for Scenic Photo (Wiscasset harbor); News Headline (The night that the lights went out in Alna); and Editorial (Read this).

Boothbay Register reporter Bill Pearson won first place for his Sports Headline (Meader sticking around for another field hockey season). Arts and Entertainment editor Lisa Kristoff took third place for Critic’s Award (Wilde well done). And news contractor Isabelle Curtis took third place for Education Story (BRHS grads reflect on their first year of college in pandemic).

The Pen Bay awards (seven) included: Lynda Clancy, first place for Political Story (Camden proposes easing density rules to encourage workforce, affordable housing) and first place for Feature Photo (Just poking around: A mid-summer’s morning on Penobscot Bay); Sarah Thompson, first place for Health Story (Call for Thomaston eatery for alleged threatening demeanor ends up a far different story), first place for Spot News Photo (Hope Street Fire, January 2022); and third place for People Photo (Snowpants, badges, fun on Rockland’s sledding hill); Diane O’Brien, second place for Local Columnist (This Week in Lincolnville); and Chris Wolf, third place for Feature Story (Dramatic 911 call to Knox Regional Communications happily culminates with birth of baby boy).

Boothbay Register won the Digital Excellence award in the Weekly 2 division; Wiscasset Newspaper, second place for Digital Excellence, Weekly 1.

During the awards ceremony, former Register photographer John Edwards was among those remembered during a reading of Maine journalists who passed away during the past year.

The conference included a full day of events, including the annual business meeting; informative programming; the Hall of Fame Luncheon with 2022 inductees Earl Brechlin of the Mount Desert Islander and Chris and Paula Roberts of the Lincoln County News and 2021 inductees Dorothy "Dot" Roderick, Dieter Bradbury and Judy Meyer; the annual scholarship auction and reception; and the 2022 Better Newspaper Awards Dinner and Banquet with Master of Ceremonies Greg Rec.

The 2022 Better Newspaper Contest was judged for work published from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022 from weeklies, dailies and digital publications. There were 58 categories in this year’s contest in the following categories: Photo/Design, Sections, Advertising/Circulation, Writing, Sports, Online, and Special Awards. The Wiscasset Newspaper competed in the Weekly 1 division and the Boothbay Register and Pen Bay Pilot in the Weekly 2 division. Weekly 1 includes newspapers with circulation or distribution from one to 1,999; Weekly 2 includes newspapers with circulation or distribution of 2,000 or more and online newspapers. The contest was judged by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association.

Attending this year’s conference from the Register were Pearson, editor Kevin Burnham and reporter Joseph Charpentier, and from Pen Bay Pilot, Lynda Clancy, Sarah Shepherd,Sarah Thompson and Chris Wolf. Clancy, board member and immediate past president of the MPA, served as chair of this year’s Contest Committee. Charpentier is also a member of the MPA board.