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.”