What’s as big as Maine’s potato crop and offers food for thought? Maine newspapers.

A new report on the economic and fiscal impact of Maine’s newspaper industry shows the annual sales of Maine newspapers equal the value of Maine’s vaunted potato crop: $154 million.

The report was commissioned by the Maine Press Association and Maine Daily Newspaper Publisher’s Association. According to the study, Maine’s newspaper industry in 2010 also:

Employed 1,766 people, or approximately the same as Maine’s semiconductor industry;

• Paid wages and benefits of $71.3 million;
• Invested nearly $7 million in new buildings, vehicles and equipment;
• Paid approximately $7.5 million in state and local taxes.

The economic ripple effect from Maine’s newspaper industry creates sales for Maine businesses of more than $307 million per year, supports 3,000-plus jobs with total wages of more than $142 million, and pays $12.7 million in state and local taxes, according to the study.

Maine newspapers have been critical to Maine’s economy for almost two centuries: They cover the news, link businesses to consumers and help readers navigate their days and enjoy their nights.

They are a cornerstone of our democracy – and they mean business.

Please join us at a press conference, 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 3, in the Welcome Center at the State House to learn more about this report and pending legislation that threatens the health and vibrancy of Maine’s newspapers.

MPA member newspapers should have received contest packets in the mail this week. The contest period is April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011. Circulation and advertising managers should check with their newspaper’s editor for copies of contest rules, entry form and labels.

Contest entries must be postmarked by May 9. Don’t forget your newspaper’s MPA dues must be paid before you submit entries.

The Maine Press Association will continue its series of half-day, hands-on writing workshops this spring. We’ll once again bring together small groups of writers to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their own work, critique colleagues’ work and, most importantly, exchange ideas for writing better stories.

The workshops will be led by Bill Nemitz, former MPA president and Journalist of the Year, who will discuss the way he reports and writes his columns for The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. Nemitz and the group will examine specific aspects of the reporting and writing process, including story ideas, storytelling, interviewing and anything else the writers want to explore.

Participants will be asked to do some homework in advance so they can make the best use of time they will have to meet. Preparation, plenty of time and a limit of 12 writers per session will enable each group to focus on many things forgotten or ignored in the daily grind.

Workshops will be held Wednesday, April 27, and Friday, May 13, at the Times Record in Brunswick. Each workshop will start at 9 a.m. and end around 12:30 p.m. A working lunch will be provided by MPA as part of the $25 registration fee. Interested in this unique hands-on training opportunity? Contact Maine Press Association at mainepress@hotmail.com.

   Tony Ronzio, managing editor and publisher of the Kennebec Journal, was elected president of the Maine Press Association Board of Directors at its Oct. 16 annual meeting. Ronzio joined the Kennebec Journal in November 2009 as managing editor and promoted to publisher earlier this year. Prior to that, he was the editorial page editor for the Sun Journal in Lewiston for three years and a staff writer for Village Soup Media.
   Mike Dowd, editor in chief of the Bangor Daily News, was elected 1st vice-president of the association; Bill Trotter, staff writer for the Bangor Daily News,  is the new 2nd vice-president; Jeff Ham, deputy city editor for the Potland Press Herald was elected secretary; and Mark Putnam, managing editor of Northeast Publishing, was re-elected as board treasurer.
   Thanks to a by-law change approved at the 2009 annual meeting, the Board of Directors now has 15 members. Newly-appointed directors are Earl Brechlin, managing editor of the Mount Desert Islander and a past president of the MPA; Holly Edwards, editor of the Bar Harbor Times; Denise Vear, creative services coordinator of the Morning Sentinel; and Mike Lange, copy editor and correspondent for the Sebasticook Valley Weekly. Lange and Ham are both former MPA executive directors.

   The Maine Press Association has appointed Andrea Nemitz of Buxton as executive director, succeeding Mike Lange of St. Albans who announced his retirement earlier this year. Nemitz will take over officially on Nov. 1 and Lange will be assisting her during the transition period.
   Nemitz is managing editor of four weekly newspapers at Mainely Media LLC, based in Biddeford. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975 and was a reporter and editor at newspapers in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
   She has been a journalist in Maine since 1983, when she joined the Sunday Sun Journal’s first staff as news editor. She also worked at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram from 1986 to 2008 as business editor, features editor, assistant managing editor for photo and graphics and online day editor. She lives in Buxton and is married to Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram columnist Bill Nemitz.

 Meg Haskell of BDN named Journalist of the Year

 NORTHPORT – More than 200 people gathered at Point Lookout Resort and Conference Center for theMaine Press Association Fall Conference and awards banquet on Oct. 16 where Meg Haskell of the Bangor Daily News was honored as Journalist of the year. The Ellsworth American, Mount Desert Islander, Bangor Daily News and Sunday Telegram were honored as Newspapers of the Year in their circulation categories.
  Matthew Stone of the Kennebec Journal won the Bob Drake Young Writer’s Award, Cyndy Bell of Current Publishing was honored as Advertising Person of the Year, Mike Theriault of the Sun Journal was recognized as the Circulation Person of the Year.
   The Freedom of Information Award in the Weekly Combined division went to the York County Coast Starfor their series “Managers, police hold top salaries” while the Daily/Weekend award went to the Sun Journal for “911 where are you?”
   Mike Dowd, editor in chief of the BDN, presented the award to Haskell noting that she has “distinguished herself with consistenly compelling, accurate reporting, augmented not only with a smooth, acessible writing style, but with the kind of compassion and sensitivity for people she writes about that comes from being a nurse”
   Haskell spend more than a decade working as a registered nurse before joining the BDN in 2002. She was recently promoted to health editor at the newspaper and is also organizing and helping maintain the paper’s new health and fitness web page.
   In recognizing the BDN as top daily paper, judge Larry Benjamin – a retired editor for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press – wrote that it “distinguishes itself by its commitment to local new throughout all sections. The local and state-themed editorials, letters and commentary are very impressive. The writing and photos complement a perfect package.”
   Benjamin said that the Maine Sunday Telegram “presents the best weekend package with a healthy local presence in all news sections, mixed with a strong world and national mix. The reader gets a real feel for the state, its people and its issues.”
   Jeff Potter, editor of The Commons in Brattleboro, Vt. judged both the Weekly 1 and Weekly 2 General Excellence categories. 
  He described the Mount Desert Islander as “a publication that clearly is produced by people who love newspapers and work hard to produce one that is good at all levels. The news writing is clear and interesting for a reader who has no ties to the area to understand.  Well-written, nuanced stories, beautiful photography, a clear layout with contemporary typography — all that combine to give someone from afar a sense of place.”
  The Ellsworth American “features beautiful color photography that very deftly conveys a sense of place, one of the most important functions of a community newspaper. Its standalone editorial section provides a welcome insight on the area with clearly labeled commentaries, well-written editorials, a vibrant letters column, and a look through the newspaper’s archives.
   The paper looks like it has the proper formula to hit the reader’s head, heart, and gut, to be engaging and relevant in their lives,” Potter wrote.
   For a complete listing, click on the 2010 Contest Winners link.

   The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram has won seven awards in the 2010 New England Associated Press News Executives Association contest.
   Newspapers from across New England competed in the annual contest in circulation-based categories.
   The Portland newspapers were in Class 1 – for newspapers whose circulation exceeds 40,000. The contest covered the year from April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010.
   “I’m obviously thrilled for the people who won awards, but I’m also delighted for their editors and colleagues,” said Scott Wasser, the papers’ executive editor. “The editors create an environment where creative and award-winning work such as this can be produced, and their co-workers create a collaborative atmosphere that nurtures this kind of work.”
   Here are the awards won by the Press Herald/Telegram:
   • Second place for best overall website.
   • First place for best feature photo: John Ewing.
   • First place design award for best informational graphic: Michael Fisher.
   • Third place design award for best informational graphic: Jeff Woodbury.
   • Third place for best sports page: Sally Tyrrell.
   • Second place for best arts and entertainment writing: Bob Keyes. (Click the link above to read the story, “Jamie Wyeth stands alone.”)
   • First place for best headline: Brian Robitaille.
   The association will soon name winners in additional categories. The awards will be presented Sept. 10 at the association’s fall conference at the Radisson Hotel & Suites, Chelmsford, Mass.

BANGOR – The Bangor Daily News earned top honors in four categories in the New England Associated Press News Executives Association contest, according to Editor-in-Chief Michael J. Dowd. The awards will be presented Sept. 10 at NEAPNEA’s fall conference at the Radisson Hotel & Suites in Chelmsford, Mass.
   Honored with first-place selections were BDN photographers Kevin Bennett and Gabor Degre, sportswriters Ernie Clark and Andrew Neff, and former Lifestyle reporter Jessica Bloch.
   Bennett took first place in the General News photography category for his memorable shot of a homeless woman in Bangor sitting on a log in a wooded area of the city. Degre won in the Portrait or Profile photo category for his image of an 88-year-old Brewer man flying a model airplane he built.
   Clark and Neff won in the Sports Feature writing category for their combined coverage of the 50th anniversary of the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers playing an NFL exhibition game in Bangor in 1959.
   Bloch won in the Arts and Entertainment writing category for her feature on artist Phil Schirmer of Blue Hill, a longtime proponent of the rarely used painting medium of egg tempera.
   The Bangor Daily News also took one second-place award and five third-place honors.
   Taking second in the Photo Story category was BDN photographer Bridget Brown, honored for her images of whales off the coast of Maine.
   Third-place awards went to reporter Emily Burnham in the Business and Consumer News writing category for her two-part series looking at the revival of downtown Bangor; reporters Abigail Curtis, Bill Trotter and Judy Harrison in the Continuing Coverage writing category for their coverage of a shooting involving lobstermen on Matinicus Island; Ernie Clark for his Sports Feature on Carlos Baeza, manager of the Camden Hills Regional High School boys basketball team; and graphics director Eric Zelz and page designer Becky Bowden in the Page 1 Design category for their work with text and images detailing an old plane wreck on a mountain in Baxter State Park.
   The Bangor Daily News website was named third-best in New England, behind first-place winner The Cape Cod Times and second-place honoree The Portland Press Herald.

   The National Newspaper Association has named www.fenceviewer.com, The Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander website, the best community newspaper website in the country.
   The occasion was the association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. The www.fenceviewer.com site was up against websites created by small daily as well as weekly newspapers all over the nation.
   In awarding www.fenceviewer.com first place, the judge wrote: “This paper took the bold step of creating a portal, rather than just a website echoing the name and content of the paper. [The site] fenceviewer.com will take some time to get used to and to brand, but it is a friendly, attractive and very local site that has a lot going for it. You get a sense of depth and professionalism from the design and content. I liked the strong main image rotator with a more dynamic photo shape. The design is clean, has a strong color palette and is easy to use. News can be delivered on a town level, which is the best strategy for a local publishing company.”
   “We are proud and grateful,” said Alan Baker, publisher of The American and Islander. “Our business model is talented people doing their best work. That’s paying off.”
   Chris Crockett, information technology manager for The American and its sister paper, the Mount Desert Islander, said “We are pleased and excited to be recognized nationally as the best community website in the country and look forward to continuing to provide a great website for our county.”