Here are the winners of the 2015 MPA Better Newspaper Contest’s missing  Weekly News Story category, which was received after the Conference:

1st place: Dan Dunkle, The Courier-Gazette: “Memory of horrific fire haunts local friends, family”

2nd place: Susan Morse & Deborah McDermott, The York Weekly: “‘We were very lucky’: Microburst damage leaves residents busy but thankful,” “Town waiting to release funds”

BANGOR – The Portland Press Herald, The Republican Journal of Belfast, the Mount Desert Islander of Bar Harbor and the Maine Sunday Telegram have been honored by the Maine Press Association for General Excellence print newspapers.

The Bangor Daily News, the Camden Herald/Republican Journal and the Mount Desert Islander took top honors for digital General Excellence in the MPA’s Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards were presented Saturday night at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor, concluding a day of workshops for journalists, advertising staff and newsroom managers throughout the state.

Earlier in the day, the association inducted three new members to its Hall of Fame: Lou Ureneck, former executive editor of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram; Bob Kalish, who wrote for national publications and The Times Record in Brunswick; and longtime Press Herald/Telegram columnist Bill Nemitz.

In the General Excellence competition for print newspapers, the Press Herald was judged the best daily in Maine for the third year in a row while the Telegram was the weekend Newspaper of the Year for the fifth time in six years. The contest judge wrote, “They are far and away the best paper(s) in Maine. They are solid professional newspapers of substance, initiative, energy and readability.”

In the Weekly 1 division, for newspapers with less than 4,000 print circulation, The Republican Journal was described as having a “clean design and nice mix of hard news and features.” The Weekly 2 winner, the Mount Desert Islander, was applauded for its “wide-ranging, eclectic and thorough coverage of community.”

The Mount Desert Islander has been named Newspaper of the Year nine times since 2006 – five times in the Weekly 1 division and four straight years in Weekly 2 (4,000 and over circulation).

The digital General Excellence winner among daily/weekend papers, the Bangor Daily News, was lauded for “featuring an attractive, understated presentation. Frequent updating with fresh news. Easily identifiable points for reader interaction, including news tips, polls and quizzes, and judicious use of video.”

The Weekly 1 winners, The Camden Herald & The Republican Journal, were commended by judges for “doing a fine job of placing fresh news in front of readers who don’t want to wait for the print edition.”

Judges praised the Weekly 2 winner, Mount Desert Islander, for providing a “beautiful, news-forward presentation. Easily navigated. Plenty of fresh content for readers.”

The Advertiser-Democrat of Oxford County won the Freedom of Information first-place award in the weekly category, while the Portland Press Herald took top honors in the daily/weekend division.

The Journalist of the Year award went to Scott Dolan of the Portland Press Herald; the Advertising Person of the Year is Barbara Hendsbee of the Press Herald.

Christopher Crosby, formerly of the Sun Journal in Lewiston, won the Bob Drake Young Writer’s Award; and Bridget Campbell of the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel, Melanie Creamer of the Portland Press Herald, and Kathy Lizotte of The Lincoln County News were honored by the MPA as the Unsung Heroes of the Year.

A complete list of 2015 award winners will be posted this week on the MPA’s website: www.mainepressassociation.org

We’re looking forward to seeing MPA members and guests at the MPA Annual Fall Conference on Saturday, October 17, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor.

The day’s events kick off at 8:45 am with the Annual Business Meeting. Morning sessions will run from 9:15 am to 12:15 pm followed by The Hall of Fame Luncheon at 12:30 pm, and our last session of the day slated at 2:15 pm. Bring your bidding paddle to the ever-popular Scholarship Auction & Reception at 5:30 pm followed by the 2015 Better Newspaper Contest Awards Dinner and Banquet.

The MPA has a special group rate of $149 a night, good for the nights of October 16 and 17 at The Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor. Although the room reservation deadline has passed, you can check with the hotel at 207-262-0099 to see if they still have availability.

The Times Record, a five-day-a-week newspaper serving
the Bath-Brunswick area of beautiful Midcoast Maine, has
an immediate opening for a full-time Sportswriter. The
two-person sports team serves seven area high schools,
along with Bowdoin College and Hyde School in Bath.
The right candidate will:
• Have a love of high school and college sports;
• Be well-versed in sports writing, copy editing
and photography, and be willing to learn on the
job in a fast-paced environment;
• Be knowledgeable in social media, as the sports
department provides live coverage by using
Twitter and Facebook.
The Sports Reporter will be expected to lay out
pages. Experience is a plus, but we are willing to train
the right candidate.
Those interested should submit a resume, cover letter
and three writing samples to Sports Editor Bob Conn
at bconn@timesrecord.com.

BANGOR — The Maine Press Association will induct three new members into its Hall of Fame at its annual meeting and conference, set for Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Inductees include Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram writer and columnist Bill Nemitz, Bob Kalish, formerly of The Times Record in Brunswick, and Lou Ureneck, who’s career included stints with the Press Herald, and the Evening Express in Portland and with the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Both Nemitz and Ureneck have previously been honored by MPA as Maine’s Journalist of the Year.

Kalish’s career included covering Hollywood for Daily Variety, serving as a war correspondent in Thailand during Vietnam, and working in television and radio in Chicago. At the Record, he drove hard-hitting coverage of the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Plant and the Brunswick Naval Air Station. Along the way he mentored multiple generations of young journalists including several that went to earn key journalism fellowships or be honored as Journalist of the Year.

In retirement, he continues to write for newspapers including essays published in The Boston Globe.

Bill Nemitz began his career in Maine journalism in 1977 as a reporter for the Morning Sentinel in Waterville. He moved to Portland in 1983, working as a reporter for the Evening Express before moving up to positions as city editor and sports editor for the Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. A past president of MPA, Nemitz began writing a column that made him one of Maine’s best-known journalists in 1995.

He reported from Northern Ireland at the end of the Troubles, from Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11, from the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, from Haiti after its destructive earthquake and from Boston in the hours after the marathon bombing.

Four times, Nemitz went to the Middle East and embedded with members of the Maine Army National Guard.

A native of New Jersey and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Lou Ureneck got his feet wet during a brief stint at the Providence Journal before coming to Maine in 1974 to begin his career at the Gannett Papers in Portland, including the Press Herald, the Evening Express and the Maine Sunday Telegram.

After leaving Maine in the mid-90s, Ureneck became editor-in-residence at the Nieman Foundation at Harvard and served as page-one editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer before becoming a professor at the Boston University’s School of Journalism.

Ureneck has written three books, including a memoir about building a cabin in the Maine wilderness. His latest book, “The Great Fire,” is an account of the post-World War I destruction of the Turkish city of Smyrna and the systematic killing of 3 million Christians.

The official Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held at a luncheon during the conference on Oct. 17 at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are available by contacting MPA Executive Director Diane Norton at mainepressmail@gmail.com or call 207-691-0131.

The MPA is seeking new members to serve on its board of directors. The board meets every six weeks and actively works to support the interests of member newspapers while keeping a pulse on legislative issues that affect the organization, planning the annual Fall Conference, and choosing Hall of Fame inductees. Mark Mogensen of Sun Journal is the incoming 2015-2016 president while Lisa DeSisto of MaineToday Media will be first vice president. The board welcomes potential members from all newspaper departments, including news, advertising, circulation and business. We’re also seeking one associate member. For more information, contact MPA Executive Director Diane Norton at 691-0131 or mainepressmail@gmail.com.

This year’s MPA Conference Committee has been hard at work to present a program of interesting and engaging sessions. Here’s the roster:

La Presse + Summary of Case Study: 9:15 am to 9:45 am Montreal’s La Presse needed to take bold action to survive. Two years into the project, the La Presse + digital app has more subscribers than the print edition and produces 70% of the company’s ad revenues. La Presse has just announced that it will produce a printed newspaper on Saturdays only. Is this the news model of the future? What have we learned from the experiment and what happens next? Presented by Paul Norton of alfa CPT Systems, Inc., the company that powers the La Presse digital platform.

Innovation and Disruption in the Media Industry: 9:45 am to 10:45 am. Well-known digital media and marketing consultant Shannon Kinney will discuss the latest trends in the changes rocking our newsrooms and advertising departments. A sample: “In order to transform a local media company, bold changes are necessary. We must change our culture or suffer the consequences. Mobile requires resources and a strategy NOW. Our content strategies must change and evolve. And we must invest in data and analytics or be left behind.” In this dynamic session you’ll learn key takeaways from Shannon’s visits to companies including BuzzFeed, Mashable, Hearst Corp., McClatchy, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Tout, Yelp, and many more. What trends matter to local media companies? Where can changes offer the most results? Find out.

Covering courts in Maine: 11:00 am to 12:15 pm. Veteran legal affairs reporters Scott Dolan of the Portland Press Herald, Judy Harrison of the Bangor Daily News, and Chris Williams of the Lewiston Sun Journal will share their experiences and insights on reporting on the justice system during this panel discussion. What happens when a judge orders journalists not to report on testimony given in open court? Or when attorneys whisper questions to prospective jurors during jury selection so journalists can’t hear? Just what are the restrictions on cameras and electronic devices in courtrooms? Is access getting better or worse? Learn the answers to these and other questions you may have pertaining to this vital and dynamic beat.

Don’t take “No” for an answer: 2:15 pm to 3:30 pm. Lewiston Sun Journal Managing Editor Judy Meyer will lead a session on how to use the full force of Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. Have you ever asked for access to public information and been denied? It happens too often, and if you don’t think you’re getting a straight answer, speak up. Learn how to pry public records loose and how to challenge government officials who refuse to release records. Judy will review public records laws, where to find records, how to ask for them and what to do when you’re told “no.” She knows this subject inside and out. Judy serves as vice-president of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition and is a member of the Right-To-Know Advisory Committee to the Legislature.

A full day of conference events is planned for the MPA Annual Fall Conference on October 17, 2015, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor, including the Annual Business Meeting, informative sessions, the Hall of Fame Inductee Luncheon, annual Scholarship Auction, and the 2015 Better Newspaper Contest Awards Dinner & Banquet.

The day’s events kick off at 8:45 am with the Annual Business Meeting. Morning sessions will run from 9:15 am to 12:15 pm followed by The Hall of Fame Luncheon at 12:30 pm, and our last session of the day slated at 2:15 pm. Bring your bidding paddle to the ever-popular Scholarship Auction & Reception at 5:30 pm followed by the 2015 Better Newspaper Contest Awards Dinner and Banquet.

In an effort make the Awards Dinner & Banquet more affordable to more MPA members, MPA enlisted Conference Sponsors to help defray costs, lowering the Awards Dinner price from $45.00 to $40.00. The Conference Registration form can be downloaded from the MPA’s website http://mainepressassociation.org/ or you can download the registration form here. Registration deadline was September 28.

Meanwhile, The Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor is taking room reservations for MPA members and guests. The MPA has a special group rate of $149 a night, good for the nights of October 16 and 17. To make reservations, Click Here. You can also call the hotel directly at 207-262-0099 and ask for the MPA Group Rate. The deadline for room reservations is October 3.

Many thanks to our Conference Sponsors who made it possible to reduce costs for attendees, while providing a limited number of scholarships for UMaine journalism students to attend the entire Conference for free.

Presenting Sponsors are alfa STP Systems, Inc., Broadreach Public Relations and Alliance Press. Associate Sponsors are Media Resources, LLC and AP Associated Press.

A full day of conference events is planned for the MPA Annual Fall Conference on October 17, 2015, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor, including the Annual Business Meeting, informative sessions (see below), the Hall of Fame Inductee Luncheon, annual Scholarship Auction, and the 2015 Better Newspaper Contest Awards Dinner & Banquet.

The day’s events kick off at 8:45 am with the Annual Business Meeting. We have an addition to our program, La Presse + Summary of Case Study, regarding how Quebec’s French-language newspaper, La Presse, went all digital. The presentation will be given at 9:15 by Paul Norton of alfa CPT Systems, Inc., one of our Conference sponsors, and the company that powers the digital platform. Innovation and Disruption in the Media Industry, begins at 9:45 followed by Covering Courts in Maine at 11:00 am. The Hall of Fame Luncheon will commence at 12:30 pm with our last session of the day, Don’t take “No” for an answer slated at 2:15 pm. Bring your bidding paddle to the ever-popular Scholarship Auction & Reception at 5:30 pm followed by the 2015 Better Newspaper Contest Awards Dinner and Banquet.

In an effort make the Awards Dinner & Banquet more affordable to more MPA members, MPA has been actively seeking Conference Sponsors to help defray costs. Although the association’s costs are more expensive at this year’s venue than last year, we’re pleased to announce we’ve lowered the Awards Dinner price from $45.00 to $40.00. The Conference Registration form can be downloaded from the MPA’s website http://mainepressassociation.org/ or you can download the registration form here. Registration deadline is September 28.

Meanwhile, The Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor is taking room reservations for MPA members and guests. The MPA has a special group rate of $149 a night, good for the nights of October 16 and 17. To make reservations, Click Here. You can also call the hotel directly at 207-262-0099 and ask for the MPA Group Rate. The deadline for room reservations is October 3.

Many thanks to our Conference Sponsors who made it possible to reduce costs for attendees, while providing a limited number of scholarships for UMaine journalism students to attend the entire Conference for free.

Presenting Sponsors are alfa STP Systems, Inc., Broadreach Public Relations and Alliance Press. Associate Sponsors are Media Resources, LLC and AP Associated Press.

Download the 2015 MPA Fall Conference registration form below.

— DOWNLOAD —

It will be held Oct.17 at the Hilton Garden Inn at 250 Haskell Road, Bangor, Maine. You can also call the hotel directly at 207-262-0099 and ask for the MPA Group Rate.

– The MPA group rate of $149 and room availability cannot be guaranteed after Saturday, October 3.

– No registration fee for Hall of Fame members or guests.

– Registration fee covers continental breakfast, all workshops and Scholarship Auction.

Deadline for Conference Registrations is Monday, September 28.