MIDDLEBURY — The Addison Independent, and its sister newspapers The Mountain Times of Killington and The Reporter of Brandon-Pittsford-Proctor, all won a bevy of awards at the annual New England Newspaper & Press Association’s annual convention and awards contest this past weekend in Boston.
Competing with the largest non-daily newspapers throughout the six New England states, the Addison Independent won six firsts and three second places in advertising and circulation, and four firsts in news, as well as 11 awards in second and third and two honorable mentions. In all the Independent earned 26 awards. The Reporter won a first place in commentary, written by Lee Kahrs, while the Mountain Times won two firsts, a second and third place in advertising/graphics.
Vermont Ski + Ride Magazine, also owned by Addison Press Inc. and produced at the Middlebury office by editor and co-publisher Lisa Lynn, earned 10 awards, capturing one first place among the niche/specialty magazines, and nine second and third place awards.
“It’s always an honor to be recognized by our peers for the quality work we do throughout the year,” said owner and publisher Angelo Lynn, adding that the NENPA annual competition attracts among the most entries of any contest in the nation.
“It’s very competitive with more than 3,000 entries in dozens of categories,” Lynn said. “It’s tough to do well in these contests, year after year, but we do and I’m especially proud of our papers for that. Consistently, we are among the best papers in New England and all of us work hard to maintain that high level of quality.”
Here’s a list of the awards won by each newspaper and magazine:
 
Addison Independent: News
Humor Columnist, 1st, Jessie Raymond;
Audience/Community Involvement, 1st, for our columns called Ways of Seeing;
Sports Photo, 1st, Trent Campbell;
Commentary, 1st, Angelo Lynn;
Arts + Entertainment section, 2nd place, Elsie Lynn, for the entirety of our new Arts + Leisure section;
Business/Economic reporting, 2nd, Gaen Murphee, on dairy farming;
Sports story, 2nd, Andy Kirkaldy;
News Feature Photo, 2nd, Trent Campbell;
Serious Columnist, 2nd, John McCright;
Serious Columnist, 3rd, Gaen Murphee;
General News Photo, 3rd, Trent Campbell; 
Education Reporting, 3rd, Emilie Munson;
Religious reporting, 3rd, David Fuchs;
Sports Feature, 3rd, David Fuchs;
Special section or supplement, 3rd, John McCright, for the special high school graduation supplement called, Where Are They Now?;
Editorial/Commentary pages; honorable mention;
Best Overall website, Addy Indy, honorable mention.
 
Addison Independent: Advertising
Audience Building promotion: 1st and 2nd, for the Addison Independent’s Garden Game and the Independent’s Field Days promotion; Christy Lynn, Anna Harrington and the advertising staff;
Specialty publication promotion: Arts & Leisure ads, 1st, Elsie Lynn;
Subscription Sales promotion, 1st place, Lisa Razo;
Newspaper sponsored event promotion — Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival promotion and program, 1st place; Addison County Fair & Field Days promotion and program, 2nd place;
Advertiser campaign: Monument Farms ads, 2nd; Pam Dunne;
Most Creative Use of Small print space: Sama’s word hunt ad, 1st, Michael Giorgio;
Special Section: Holiday Guide, 1st place, advertising staff.
 
Mountain Times:
1st for Pure Advertising Niche Publication;
1st and 3rd for Local Display Ad (color);
2nd for Local Display Ad (black & white).
 
The Reporter: Commentary, 1st, Lee Kahrs.
 
Vermont Ski & Ride Magazine:
Columnist, specialty/niche publications, 1st, Biddle Duke;
Personality Profile, Specialty/Niche publications, 2nd, Lisa Lynn;
Best Niche Publication (weekly newspapers), 3rd; Lisa Lynn/Emma Cotton;
Feature Photo, Specialty Niche, 3rd, Oliver Parini;
Pictorial photo, 2nd, Brian Mohr;
Portrait photo, 2nd,Gabe Hevrey;
Photo series, 2nd, Brooks Curran;
Overall Design of a Niche Product, 3rd;
Website Design, tie for 2nd place, Lisa Lynn/Emma Cotton;
Best Overall Website, 2nd, Lisa Lynn/Emma Cotton.
 
“We want to congratulate all of our employees, award-winners and those team-members who helped,” Lynn said, adding that “we want to thank our readers and advertisers as well, because without the community’s loyal support, we couldn’t bring the community the quality reporting and advertising we do each and every week.”