New York News Publishers Association

Awards for Excellence

2020 Contest Information

The New York News Publishers Association is happy to announce the winners of our 2020 Awards for Excellence competition.

This year’s winners will be officially recognized at the Continuing Excellence Awards Banquet on a date to be determined at the Hearst Media Center in Loudonville.

The annual contest recognizes journalistic excellence among the association’s member newspapers. Newspapers competed against one another in five circulation classes: Under 10,000; 10,000-24,999; 25,000-49,999; 50,000-75,000 and Over 75,000. Contest judges selected winners from 388 entries submitted by 20 New York State newspapers.

The judges were:

Barbara Lombardo, retired executive editor of The Saratogian and The (Troy) Record, journalism professor at Albany University, the State University of New York, Albany, NY
Donna Donovan, retired publisher of the Observer-Dispatch, Utica, NY
Mike Spain, retired associate editor of the Times Union, Albany, NY
Dave Bohrer, retired editor of The Meridian Star, Meridian, MS and,
Kathleen Norton McNulty, professional lecturer in journalism at Marist College School of Communication, Poughkeepsie, NY

Click here to download a PDF copy of the complete list of this year's winners. Congratulations to all!
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Contest Eligibility

Sponsorship
Purpose
Contest Description
Entry Fees
Payment Instructions
Circulation Classes
Entry Guidelines
How to Enter
Entry Form (PDF)
Entry Deadline
Entry Fee Deadline
Winning Entries
Awards Banquet
Subject Categories
Official Rules and Entry Information Booklet
Contact Us
Archived Contest Info (2008-2019)

Contest Eligibility
All member newspapers of the New York News Publishers Association are eligible to enter.

Sponsorship
The contest is sponsored by the New York News Publishers Association.

Purpose
The contest is designed to: encourage continuing excellence in newspaper service; suitably reward excellence in various categories of news, editorial, and photographic presentation; and benefit the public relations of newspapers.

Contest Description
First place will be awarded in each of 23 categories in five circulation classes to those NYNPA member newspapers whose entries have demonstrated editorial and/or photographic excellence.

Entry Fees (per piece submitted)
$15.00 - Under 10,000 circulation
$20.00 - 10,000-24,999 circulation
$25.00 - 25,000-49,999 circulation
$30.00 - 50,000-75,000 circulation
$35.00 - Over 75,000 circulation

Fees collected are used to defray costs associated with administering the contest. Where the rules of a category require, or present the option of, submitting more than one piece (Ex. Distinguished Community Service), all pieces submitted in that category will count as a single entry. Fees may be paid via check or with credit card via PayPal.

Payment Instructions
Once again, our online entry system will automatically generate an invoice with your newspaper's calculated entry fee. Use this invoice to pay via check, or pay with credit card via PayPal using the button below:

Circulation Classes
Entries are placed into one of five circulation classes according to each newspaper's daily 12-month average circulation as reported by our members. Newspapers that publish a Sunday edition as well as a daily edition will be classified according to the average of all editions published by that newspaper. Circulation classes for the 2020 competition are as follows:
1. Under 10,000
2. 10,000-24,999
3. 25,000-49,999
4. 50,000-75,000
5. Over 75,000

Entry Guidelines
Each newspaper is allowed to enter a maximum of four (4) entries per category, and may enter a given entry in any or all of the listed categories for which it qualifies.

In order for an entry to be eligible for this competition, the following criteria must be met:

The entry must have been originally published either in print or online during the contest eligibility period of January 1 to December 31, 2020, or be part of a series that either began or ended during that period.
The entry must not have been entered in a previous incarnation of this competition (Ex. the 2019 contest), either individually or as part of a series.
The entry must meet any additional criteria of a given category as outlined in that category’s description.

How to Enter
Each newspaper must designate a “Contestant Manager” who will be responsible for managing all entries and adding other "Authorized Entrants" for that paper.

If your paper participated in last year’s contest, please use the same Contest Manager password from that contest. (To retrieve lost login information for your Contest Manager click “Forgot password” at login and it will be e-mailed to the Contest Manager on file, or contact Margaret McDermott at 518-449-1667 ext. 703 or mmcdermott@nynpa.com.)

If your paper did not participate in last year’s contest, the first person who logs in to the contest website from your newspaper should be your paper's Contestant Manager, as he or she will have full control over all entries and adding additional users for your paper. After that person has uploaded two entries he/she will be recognized by the website as the Contestant Manager and asked to verify his/her role via e-mail. Once the Contestant Manager has been verified he/she will be able to add Authorized Entrants who can also upload, edit, and delete entries for your paper.

To get started, your paper’s designated Contestant Manager should follow these steps:

Log on to www.BetterBNC.com/nynpa2020
Click on "Enter the Contest Here" button in the upper portion of the right column
Select “Contestant Manager”
Select your newspaper under "Media Organization"
Enter either your existing password (if registered last year) or the temporary password of “bnc” (if new to the contest).
Enter or confirm your information, then submit your entries online as PDFs, JPEGs, URLs, or Microsoft Word documents.

After submitting all entries for the contest online the Contestant Manager must fill out the contest entry form on the back cover of this booklet (also available for download at www.nynpa.com/docs/entryform2020.pdf) and mail it to NYNPA with one check to cover the full amount of all entries being submitted by that newspaper, or with a copy of a payment receipt from PayPal.

Entry Deadline
All entries must now be received no later than Monday, March 15, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. No entries will be accepted after the deadline.

Entry Fee Deadline
A corresponding entry form and accompanying payment or proof of payment via PayPal must be received by NYNPA no later than Monday, March 22, 2021 at 5:00 p.m.

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Winning Entries
Winners will be notified by mail in May and invited to attend the annual awards ceremony, where the official announcements will take place.

Awards Ceremony
Wednesday, October 6, 2021, location and mode to be determined.

Subject Categories
(Note: Print and digital content is eligible for entry in all categories, except in categories 18-20, which are reserved for online-only content, and categories 21-23, which are reserved for newspaper supplement and/or specialty publication content.)

Distinguished Breaking News Coverage
Submissions should demonstrate effective newspaper response to deadline demands. Submissions may consist of a single story or a group of stories by one or more reporters relating to the same event. Submissions should demonstrate clarity, thoroughness, balance, and aggressiveness in the coverage of local spot news.
Distinguished Live Sports Coverage
Submissions should demonstrate effective newspaper response to deadline demands as related to live sporting events. Submissions may consist of a single story or a group of stories by one or more reporters relating to the same event. Submissions should demonstrate clarity, thoroughness, balance, and aggressiveness in the coverage of local live sports.
Distinguished Investigative Reporting
Submissions should demonstrate thorough, thoughtful, fair, and resourceful reporting of local stories that reveal corruption or malfeasance or inherent flaws in the functioning of society's institutions, and/or stories that effectively measure the performance of those institutions against their stated missions. Submissions may consist of a single story or a group of stories by one or more reporters relating to the same event.
Distinguished Business Reporting
Submissions should demonstrate effective newspaper coverage of business and the economy, skillful investigative reporting and excellence in writing style, editing, display and other pertinent criteria. The subject matter should deal primarily with how business and economic events relate to individuals and the newspaper's community. In this category, a submission may be one or more articles from the same edition relating to the same story, or a series of articles on a common subject running on different days.
Distinguished Beat Reporting
Submissions should demonstrate sustained and knowledgeable coverage of a particular subject or activity of local interest. Submissions should be a series of no more than five reports on the same subject or activity by the same writer.
Distinguished Editorial Writing
Submissions should demonstrate a genuine concern for local community problems; courage in taking a position regardless of the popular view and/or against own self-interest; originality of viewpoint and style; and other pertinent criteria. Each submission must be a local editorial. One or more editorials by the same writer on the same subject may be submitted to this category.
Distinguished Feature Writing
Submissions should showcase good writing in non-deadline situations. Submissions may include personality profiles, trend stories, narratives and general features. Submissions should demonstrate style, originality and the ability to make readers laugh, cry or feel. Submissions may consist of a single story or a series of stories from one or more editions relating to the same subject.
Distinguished Sports Writing
Submissions should demonstrate effective coverage of the people, institutions or trends in the local sports community employing thorough, thoughtful, fair, and resourceful reporting as well as quality writing. Submissions may consist of a single story or a group of stories by one or more reporters relating to the same topic.
Distinguished Column Writing
Submissions should demonstrate originality, insight, wit, the capacity to illuminate character, and the capacity to enhance the reader's understanding of persons and events in the community served by the newspaper. Submissions may be a single column or a body of work by the same writer up to a maximum of five columns.
Distinguished Sports Column Writing
Submissions should demonstrate originality, insight, wit, the capacity to illuminate character, and the capacity to enhance the reader’s understanding of persons and events in local or national sports. Submissions may be a single body of work by the same writer up to a maximum of five columns.
Distinguished Headline Writing
Submissions should demonstrate clarity, creativity, and the capacity to distill and capture the essence of the story. Single submissions only will be accepted in this category.
Distinguished Community Service
Submissions (in this category a submission may be a series of articles and/or editorials on a common subject) should demonstrate effort and effect on the part of the local newspaper toward the improvement of the community served, as well as an effort on the newspaper’s part to engage the community through both traditional and new media.
Distinguished State Government Coverage
Submissions should demonstrate effective newspaper coverage of state government as manifested in service to the community; skillful investigative reporting and excellence in writing style, editing, display, and other pertinent criteria. The subject matter should deal primarily with an aspect of state government - the legislature, executive branch, a specific state agency, etc. - and how it relates to the community. In this category, a submission may be one or more articles from the same edition relating to the same story, or a series of articles on a common subject running on different days.
Distinguished Page Design/Presentation
Submissions should demonstrate strong visual appeal, style and originality; and should enhance the written content, making it easy to understand or navigate. Submissions may be a single page or a body of work designed by the same person, up to a maximum of three examples. If submitting a series, up to three days' editions may be included.
Distinguished News Photography
Submissions should demonstrate news value, timeliness, communicative effectiveness, and skill as shown in composition and technical quality. A submission may be one or more photographs from one or more editions relating to the same news event.
Distinguished Feature Photography
Submissions should demonstrate imagination in the handling of feature subjects; communicative effectiveness; appeal to reader interest; and skill in composition, technical quality, and cropping. A submission may be one or more photographs from one or more editions relating to the same feature subject.
Distinguished Sports Photography
Submissions should sharply capture the drama inherent in human athletic competition and draw the reader's eye to peak action, capturing the moment and communicating it on an emotional level with a high degree of technical skill, composition and quality. A submission may be one or more photographs from one or more editions relating to the same subject.
Distinguished Online Photo Gallery
Submissions should consist of a series of photographs which appeared on a newspaper’s website in a single gallery. Submissions should enhance the story to which the gallery is attached, while demonstrating the highest standards of photojournalism.
Distinguished Online Blog
Submissions should demonstrate timeliness, originality, insight, reader interaction and the capacity to enhance the reader's understanding of persons and events in the community served by the newspaper. Submissions may be a single day's blog entry or entries, or a series of blog entries over the course of the year by the same writer, with a maximum of ten entries.
Distinguished Multi-Media Presentation
Submissions should demonstrate work that incorporates distinguished journalistic storytelling via media other than the print format. Submissions may consist of web-based interactive graphics and displays, videos, photo galleries and audio slideshows, or any combination of all of these elements. Creativity, ease-of-use for the website visitor, impact on the community and overall technical execution will be among factors considered by the judges.
Distinguished News Supplement
Submissions should demonstrate imaginative layout and design; creative use of headlines; solid, staff-written articles; and high-quality photos relating to a breaking news event. Submissions should also demonstrate knowledge of and connection with the newspaper’s community, and must contain primarily locally-produced content. Submissions may be one example of a regularly-produced weekly supplement, or a one-time supplement or publication.
Distinguished Sports Supplement
Submissions should demonstrate imaginative layout and design; creative use of headlines; solid, staff-written articles; and high-quality photos relating to a local or national sporting event. Submissions should also demonstrate knowledge of and connection with the newspaper’s community, and must contain primarily locally-produced content. Submissions may be one example of a regularly-produced weekly supplement, or a one-time supplement or publication.
Distinguished Feature Supplement
Submissions should demonstrate imaginative layout and design; creative use of headlines; solid, staff-written articles; and high-quality photos relating to a common feature. Submissions should also demonstrate knowledge of and connection with the newspaper’s community, and must contain primarily locally-produced content. Submissions may be one example of a regularly-produced weekly supplement, or a one-time supplement or publication.

Official Rules and Entry Information Booklet
Please download the Official Rules and Entry Information Booklet for contest rules, guidelines, and instructions on how to enter:

Official Rules and Entry Informatiom Booklet (.pdf)

Contact Us
The following people are available to help you with various aspects of our competition:

Contest Support (rules, best practices, lost login credentials)
Margaret McDermott, Advertising & Events Coordinator, NYNPA
(518) 449-1667 ext, 703, mmcdermott@nynpa.com

Technical Support (contest website)
Cody France, SmallTownPapers, Inc.
(360) 427-6300, cody@smalltownpapers.com or visit www.betterbncsupport.com

Archived 2019 Contest Information

The New York News Publishers Association has announced the winners of its 2019 Awards for Excellence competition. Due to COVID-19 our traditional awards banquet was cancelled.

The annual contest recognizes journalistic excellence among the association’s member newspapers. Contest judges selected winners from 358 entries submitted by 19 New York State daily newspapers.

For the complete list of winners, download the 2019 contest's press release via the link below:

2019 Contest Press Release

Archived 2018 Contest Information

The New York News Publishers Association has announced the winners of its 2018 Awards for Excellence competition. This year’s winners were officially recognized at the 2019 Continuing Excellence Banquet and Reception on Wednesday, July 17 at the Hearst Media Center at 645 Albany Shaker Road, Albany.