The Bangor Daily News, The Ellsworth American and Boothbay Register took top honors for digital General Excellence in the MPA’s Better Newspaper Contest.

The awards were presented Saturday night at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Event Center in Bar Harbor, concluding a day of workshops for journalists, advertising staff and newsroom managers throughout the state.

Lincoln Millstein, Senior Vice President of Hearst Newspapers, was the featured conference speaker and shared his views on the future of newspapers and why ‘digital first’ won’t deliver.

Earlier in the day, the association inducted two new members to its Hall of Fame: Mark Woodward, former executive editor of the Bangor Daily News, and Alan Baker, longtime owner and publisher of The Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander.

In the General Excellence competition for print newspapers, the Portland Press Herald was judged the best daily in Maine while the Maine Sunday Telegram was the weekend Newspaper of the Year for the seventh time in eight years.

Lincoln Millstein, Senior Vice President of Hearst Newspapers, was the featured speaker at the Maine Press Association’s 2017 Fall Conference.

The contest judges wrote of the Portland Press Herald, “Strong writing and beautiful photography throughout the paper, and strong coverage of state and local government” while praising the Maine Sunday Telegram for its “Great writing, well organized, elegant design. Important news stories and lifestyle features. This is the total package.”

In the Weekly 1 division, for newspapers with less than 4,000 print circulation, the York Weekly was described as “A paper that has strong content and is easy to read. People in the community should – and want to – read this paper” while the Weekly 2 winner, Mount Desert Islander, was lauded for its “items of interest for regular readers and/or visitors from out of the area with good editorials and very clean writing.”

The Mount Desert Islander has been named Newspaper of the Year 11 times since 2006 – six times in the Weekly 1 division and five years in Weekly 2 (4,000 and over circulation).

The Courier-Gazette won the Freedom of Information first-place award in the weekly category, while the Sun Journal took top honors in the daily/weekend division.

Matthew Stone of the Bangor Daily News was named the Journalist of the Year while Carla McGuire of the Kennebec Journal was the Advertising Person of the Year.

Maia Zewert of the Lincoln County News won the Bob Drake Young Writer’s Award, and Robert Long of the Bangor Daily News was honored by the MPA as the Unsung Hero of the Year.

A complete list of 2017 award winners can be found on the MPA’s website: www.mainepressassociation.org

Mark Woodward, left, and Alan Baker, this year’s Maine Press Association Hall of Fame inductees.