Nominations are now being accepted for 2022 inductees to the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame. The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, July 1.
Candidates must be Maine newspaper professionals who made lasting career contributions to their craft, in or out of the state. Members can be elected posthumously.

The Hall of Fame was established in 1998. A list of all inductees is on the MPA website at: http://mainepressassociation.org/hall-of-fame/

Each nomination should be accompanied by supporting material that will help committee members as they make their decisions. Please be prepared to submit all nominations and supporting materials in an electronic format so the committee can access them remotely.

Nominations can be sent to the committee in care of Faith DeAmbrose at fdeambrose@mdislander.com. Questions can be directed to her or to Maine Press Association Executive Director Diane Norton at mainepressmail@gmail.com.

The 24th annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held October 22 at the MPA Fall Conference in Bar Harbor.

It’s time to nominate your deserving staff and co-workers for the 2022 MPA Individual awards. Please email all nominations to maine@newspapercontest.com by July 8, 2022. Digital entries only, please. The 2022 winners will be announced at the MPA Fall Conference on Oct. 22 in Bar Harbor.

Here are the categories:

• Unsung Hero Award: For any staff member, in any department, whose contributions to his or her newspaper have been essential but often overlooked. Nominations may include examples of the nominee’s work and letters from supervisors and/or co-workers detailing his or her contributions.

• Advertising Person of the Year: For an advertising employee whose work has been truly distinguished over the course of a year or years. Candidates may have established unique marketing plans or stood out through other measures, such as sales record. Work samples may be included with a nomination letter.

• Bob Drake Young Writer’s Award: For a full-time employee of a Maine Press Association member with fewer than three years of full-time experience in journalism as of July 8, 2022. A letter from the staffer’s supervisor must contain a review of the nominee’s experience and accomplishments. School or college newspaper experience does not count as full-time experience. Entries will be evaluated on writing quality, enterprise, imagination, thoroughness, balance, and general reporting. As many as six articles may be submitted. 

• Journalist of the Year: For an exceptional news employee whose work has been truly distinguished over the previous year or a period of years. A reasonable number of news clips, photographs, or other samples of work must be included with a cover letter from the nominee’s editor or publisher. The nominee must be an employee of a member organization.

Every year, MPA holds its annual Scholarship Fund Auction to raise money that we turn around and give (100 percent!) to selected students enrolled in Maine higher education journalism programs.

The goal is to encourage more young journalists to join the profession, and every autumn, we distribute approximately $2,500 to 4,000 in scholarships.

The exact amount, however, depends on how successful our auction is, and this year, we are going BIG!

After two years of virtual conferences, MPA is banking that we gather together IN PERSON this coming October. That means we have the opportunity to make the MPA Scholarship Auctions — live and silent — one to beat the band.

That’s where you come in. Please put on your MPA auction thinking cap see what you might donate to the cause.

Ideas? Gift cards to shops, restaurants, pet sitting/grooming services and grocery stores; theme-based baskets; overnight stays at your camp (rustic to luxurious!); boat rides and picnics.

It doesn’t have to be fancy (yes, one year a member newspaper donated a box of toilet paper. Considering how lean our office budgets are these days; hell, a roll of toilet paper is gold), but we do want to raise some cash.

Email mainepressmail@gmail.com with ideas and questions, and we will get you the proper donation form. Don’t delay; no one likes the deadline blues!

Learn more about the Scholarship Fund and how it impacts aspiring Maine journalists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ7LBQHeHAc

In an effort to balance the entrant count in the Weekly 1 and Weekly 2 Divisions, the MPA Contest Committee has adjusted the circulation requirement:

Weekly 1: Published fewer than five times per week with circulation or distribution from one to 1,999.

Weekly 2: Published fewer than five times per week with circulation or distribution of 2,000 or more.

Online-only members the Daily Bulldog, The Maine Monitor, and Pen Bay Pilot will remain in the Weekly 2 division while Spectrum News Maine will compete in the Daily division.

All entrants, with the exception of online-only members, must submit a copy of their Oct. 2021 Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation by April 6 so that we may verify your circulation and ensure each member is accounted for correctly in the Contest entry portal. (Free newspapers, please provide a print invoice from Oct. 2021 with documentation of your print run.) Once we have this information, we’ll reach out to weekly members with confirmation of their division. Email the statement/information to Executive Director Diane Norton at mainepressmail@gmail.com .

The Maine Press Association is delighted to announce the recipients of two journalism scholarships totaling $2,500. The recipients of the 2022 scholarships are Emma H. Smith and Meaghan Bellavance. 

Smith, a Bangor native, is currently in her fourth year of study at the University of Maine at Orono, working towards a Bachelor’s degree, double majoring in Communication and Journalism as well as Women’s, Gender and Sexuality studies. While interning at the Fox 22 / ABC 7 broadcast news station in Bangor, she fell in love with the newsroom and was inspired by the quick wit and genuine nature of those around her. Onwards, she wants to focus on her writing, and her dreams include publishing books with historical narratives, as well as working on investigative projects to uncover and write about long-awaited truths. 

Bellavance, is a fifth-year student at the University of Maine at Orono. A native of Danielson, a small town in the quiet corner of Connecticut, she is currently studying to earn a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Journalism and Anthropology. She is the Culture Editor for Maine Campus, UMaine’s student newspaper of record since 1875. After graduation this coming May, her career goal is to become a multimedia journalist and become fully immersed in the journalism industry. 

The Maine Press Association awards at least one scholarship every year to a junior or senior with financial need who plans to pursue a career in journalism. The scholarships are possible through the generosity of bidders at the Maine Press Association’s annual scholarship auction and the donors who provide the auction items.

To inquire about the 2023 scholarship, contact scholarship committee Chair Sindhu Manjesh at sindhu.manjesh@maine.edu.

The Maine Press Association (MPA), founded in 1864, is one of the oldest professional news organizations in the nation. We strive to promote and foster high ethical standards in journalism and the best interests of the journalists and media organizations that constitute our membership; to encourage best business and editorial practices and a better media environment in Maine; and to protect the principles of freedom of the press and the public’s right to know.

CAMDEN, Maine, November 13, 2021 –The Portland Press Herald, the Portland Phoenix, The Camden Herald, and the Maine Sunday Telegram have been honored by the Maine Press Association for General Excellence in print newspapers.

The Portland Press Herald, The Maine Monitor, and the Boothbay Register took top honors for digital General Excellence in the MPA’s Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards were presented Saturday afternoon during the association’s annual awards presentation, this year held virtually due to COVID-19.

Dorothy “Dot” Roderick, one of the first women advertising executives in the newspaper industry; Dieter Bradbury, a force in Maine journalism for more than four decades; and Judy Meyer, executive editor for Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel and a fierce advocate for First Amendment rights, were selected by the MPA’s Hall of Fame Committee as the 2021 inductees. Due to the decision to forego this year’s in-person conference, the formal induction ceremony will be held at next year’s MPA Conference, Oct. 22, in Bar Harbor.

In the General Excellence competition for print newspapers, The Portland Press Herald was judged the best daily in Maine for the third consecutive year while the Maine Sunday Telegram was the weekend Newspaper of the Year for the eleventh time in twelve years.

The contest judges, who hailed from The South Dakota Press Association, wrote of The Portland Press Herald, “Clearly the class of this division. Front page designs are attractive and leave no doubt about the day’s top story. It features a robust editorial page with local editorials and an attractive sports page…. The writing ranges from professional to first-rate.”

“There’s not much getting done on Sundays in Portland for the readers of this newspaper,”  said the judges about the Maine Sunday Telegram. “It’s stuffed with ads and sections that feature stories from staff writers in each one. The sports news pops off the page. Headlines are solid and photos are crisp.”

In the Weekly 1 division, for newspapers with less than 3,000 print circulation, The Camden Herald took the top prize. Judges said, “This is a newsy, well-written newspaper. The front pages are attractive…It has lively opinion pages and a first-rate sports section.” The Weekly 2 winner, the Portland Phoenix, was lauded for its differences. “Unlike many tab-sized newspapers, this one does not overload its front page, opting to take an attractive magazine approach. The writing here is superb.”

The Camden Herald and The Lincoln County News won the Freedom of Information first-place award in the Weekly 1 and Weekly 2 divisions, respectively, while Bangor Daily News took top honors in the Daily/Weekend division.

Samantha Hogan of The Maine Monitor was named the Journalist of the Year and Jane Patriquin of the Portland Press Herald was the Advertising Person of the Year.

Emily Bader, formerly of the Lakes Region Weekly and now of the Sun Journal, won the Bob Drake Young Writer’s Award, and Keith Taylor of MaineToday Media was honored by the MPA as the Unsung Hero of the Year.

A complete list of 2021 award winners will be posted later this week on the MPA’s website.

The Maine Press Association (MPA), founded in 1864, is one of the oldest professional news organizations in the nation. Learn more at www.mainepressassociation.org.

While we won’t be meeting in-person for the 2021 MPA Fall Conference, let’s celebrate each other and all 69 categories of Better Newspaper Award winners!

We hope you’ll join us November 13 at 5:00 p.m. for the Virtual Awards Presentation, hosted by esteemed MC Greg Rec, to celebrate all of the winners of this year’s Better Newspaper Contest and unveil the winners of this year’s coveted General Excellence and individual awards including Journalist of the Year, Advertising Person of the Year, Bob Drake Young Writer, and Unsung Hero.

Like last year, your registration fee includes the Awards Presentation PLUS subsequent programming throughout 2022 and we have four presentations lined up and ready to go.

Please join us:                                                                                                              Saturday, November 13                                                                                                    5:00 – 6:30 p.m.                                                                                                                    $25 per person

To Register, Click Here.

Award plaques and certificates and the 2021 Awards Supplement, complete with all contest winners and judges’ comments, will be provided to members in PDF form after the Virtual Awards Presentation.

We will also produce a ½-page ad to celebrate this year’s award winners, including our Hall of Fame inductees, and promote the Scholarship Auction. The ad will be made available to every MPA member for publication, if they so choose.