BOSTON — The Addison Independent was honored with 21 awards in the Better Newspaper Contest organized by the New England Newspaper and Press Association. The prizewinners were named at the association’s annual winter convention in Boston this past Friday and Saturday.
Among the nine first-place awards, the Advertising team at the Addy Indy provided a particularly bright moment in capturing first place in General Excellence among large weeklies across the six New England states.
The newspaper as a whole also received Honorable Mention for General Excellence.
Editor and Publisher Angelo Lynn, who won several awards for his writing, noted that the Addison Independent is among the smaller publications in the division in which it competes, which are non-dailies over 6,000, which includes Seven Days, the Boston Business Journal, Worcester Magazine, and Martha’s Vineyard Gazette to name a few of the 100-plus newspapers in that category.
“We’re in the large weekly category and we’re in great company there just to be in the top group,” Lynn said. “We won General Excellence from the Vermont Press Association this past year, and we won General Excellence at NENPA in 2011 and 2016, so to be consistently in the running is terrific.”
The other Addison Independent first-place winners ran the gamut from veterans like senior reporter John Flowers, photographer Trent Campbell and sports columnist Karl Lindholm to newer voices including online blogger Faith Gong.
In explaining their Honorable Mention award, the judges commended the Addison Independent focus on community news, environmental coverage and high school sports report.
“The arts and entertainment section is a special treat and shows the Independent at its best in design and presentation,” the judges said.
Judges also commented on the Addison Independent’s first place for its editorial/commentary pages.
“The Addison Independent richly deserves first place in the weekly class. From its skillful and decisive editorial writing to its diverse, local op-ed pieces and its many letters to the editor, the newspaper demonstrates its commitment to vigorous local debate. But perhaps most impressive of all is its commitment to space to examine issues thoroughly. This is a weekly fulsome in content and obviously proud of its local tradition. By its good work, it has earned the respect of its readers.”
No small affair, this year’s competition drew several thousand entries that were published between Aug. 1, 2017, and July 31, 2018.
Angelo Lynn not only savored the Addison Independent awards, but also the awards (five first-place) won by the other publications in the Addison Press family: Vermont Ski + Ride Magazine, Vermont Sports Magazine, The Mountain Times of Killington and The Brandon Reporter.
Ski + Ride, run by editor/co-publisher Lisa Lynn was a first-place winner in two photo categories — sports and feature — and in Headline Writing. The magazine also placed second for Front Page design and typography, second in sports photo and pictorial photo, and a third in sports photo. As a team, Ski + Ride placed third for General Excellence among Niche Publications.
The Mountain Times, led by Polly and Jason Mikula, took two first places — for the best Media Kit and in the Pure Advertising Niche category (in which they also took second place).
Lynn congratulated all the staff for the terrific group effort in putting out 103 print editions of the Addison Independent every year and reaching out on the company’s website and social media channels. He promised readers more of the same — and better — in the coming year:
“We’ll take our good ideas and work hard to reach more of our audience with great stories, social media outreach, digital and video to help our communities stay informed, stay in touch with each other, and, at the end of the day, help make our communities wonderful places to work, live and play.”
ADDISON INDEPENDENT VETERANS of our news team from left, Andy Kirkaldy, John Flowers and news editor John McCright.
The Addison Independent NENPA 2019 award winners are listed below. For links to the stories, photos and video, check out this story on addisonindependent.com.
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NENPA Awards for 2019
First place:
•  Advertising General Excellence
•  Advertising Most Creative Use of a Small Print Space
•  Local Display Advertisement, Black and White
•  Trent Campbell, Sports Photo Feature (right)
THE MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE women’s rugby club team braved the heat and humidity Tuesday evening and ran a practice on the college’s athletic fields. Most local teams, both college and high school, had to make adjustments to their schedules because of the heat.
Independent photo/Trent Campbell
•  John Flowers, Report on Religious Issues (struggles of a small rural church in Cornwall)
•  Karl Lindholm, Sports Columnist (A most unforgettable character: Coach Alaimo; Bill McKibben and the Red Sox)
•  Faith Gong, Best Blog on a Newspaper Website
•  Sue Leggett and staff, Best Editorial/Commentary Pages
•  Angelo Lynn, Serious Columnist
Second place:
•  Local Display Advertisement, Color
•  Advertising Most Creative Use of a Small Print Space
•  John Flowers, Social Issues Feature (Confederate flags in East Middlebury)
•  Angelo Lynn, Editorial Writing
•  Angelo Lynn, Political Columnist
Third place
•  Megan James, Best Use of Social Media in Breaking News (Students marching against gun violence)
•  Sophie and Emma Pope McCright, Spot News (Students marching against gun violence)
•  Andy Kirkaldy, Sports Feature Story (Andi Boe recovers from ACL tear)
•  John Flowers, Human Interest Story (Ripton store in transition)
•  John Flowers, Arts and Entertainment Reporting (Steve Small profile)
Honorable mention
•  General Excellence
•  Megan James, Feature Video (Broom maker Janelle Higdon)