AUBURN — The Houlton Pioneer Times won 12 awards in the 2014 Maine Press Association Better Newspaper Contest as the organization held its annual fall conference Oct. 18 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn.
Staff Writer Joseph Cyr won six first-place awards. His article on the local reaction to the Boston Marathon bombing took top honors in the Spot News category.
His story on changes at Houlton Regional Hospital earned a first-place in the Health category, while his column “Cup O’Joe” placed first in the Opinion column.
For photography, Cyr won first-place in the Scenic, Sports Action and Picture Story categories.
Cyr and Staff Writer Gloria Austin combined to earn top honors in the Business Section category.
Cyr also earned a second-place photography award in the News Photo, while Austin took a second and third certificate in the Spot News and People Photo divisions.
The Pioneer’s annual Newspapers In Education supplement, featuring student-created advertisements and pupil-provided writing and art, placed second in the Best Young Reader Idea category. Northeast Publishing swept the top three places with the Aroostook Republican of Caribou taking first place and the Piscataquis Observer of Dover-Foxcroft finishing third.
Houlton’s advertising staff — Wanda MacIlroy, Dave Bates and Steve Cowett — claimed a second-place award for their work in the Sponsorship Page category.
The Portland Press Herald, Mount Desert Islander, York Weekly and Maine Sunday Telegram were the major winners in the Better Newspaper Contest General Excellence-Print division while the Wiscasset Newspaper /Boothbay Register and Press Herald/Telegram received top honors for General Excellence-Digital. This was the first year that the MPA held a separate contest for digital entries, reflecting the increased viewership of Internet news sites.
The Journalist of the Year award went to Colin Woodard of the Portland Press Herald; the Advertising Person of the Year is Brenda Allen of the Portland Press Herald; Dominik Lobkowicz of the Lincoln County News won the Bob Drake Young Writers Award; and Gary Gagne of the Maine Daily Newspaper Network was honored by his peers as the Unsung Hero of the Year.
The new Hall of Fame inductees were the late Robert Crocker, a long-time Associated Press state house reporter; and Richard Dudman, a retired St. Louis Post Dispatch correspondent and editorial writer for the Bangor Daily News.
A complete list of 2014 award winners will be posted this week on http://mainepress.wordpress.com.