GREENFIELD — In-depth reporting has paid off for The Recorder’s reporting staff — and its readers — with the paper winning three first-place awards at the annual New England Better Newspaper Competition.
The Recorder won for best business and economic reporting, best education reporting and best human interest story among newspapers of its size in the region.
“Winning contests is great for the staff,” said Recorder editor George Forcier. “But the real beneficiaries of the in-depth reporting that wins these prizes are our readers, who are served by solid local news stories.”
The entries are judged by the New England Newspaper and Press Association, which said in announcing the results that competition was stiff, with more than 3,000 entries.
The Recorder’s senior reporter, Richie Davis, won in the economic/business category with a story from his series on yogurt, called Popular Culture. He wrote about the growing yogurt industry and how it has impacted even the rural Franklin County area, with stories about Sidehill Farm yogurt makers in Hawley and the Commonwealth Dairy in Brattleboro, Vt., which has mushroomed since it opened in 2011.
The judges said “Richie Davis’ look at the growth of a Brattleboro plant gives readers an excellent opportunity to understand an important local business and its economic impact.”
Lisa Spear, who was the paper’s Montague reporter at the time she wrote her entry, won a first place prize for “Final Lullaby,” a human interest piece about the Eventide Singers who bring peace and comfort to the dying through song. The judges said it was a “fascinating story about bringing comfort to the dying through singing — a story that, in the end, defines what a newspaper human interest story should be.”
Tom Relihan, who was the paper’s education reporter in the run-up to last fall’s referendum on charter school expansion in Massachusetts, wrote a four-part series explaining the issue.
“Through thorough coverage of a controversial issue, reporter Relihan looked at a variety of issues important to readers: funding, potential segregation and effects on rural schools,” noted the judges.
The paper won another prize for its free-distribution publications on specialized topics. Supplements editor Chris Harris won third place for best “niche publication.” Harris produces the periodicals Valley Kids, Healthy Life and Going Green, which are distributed throughout the Pioneer Valley.
Judges described Harris’ work as a “solid effort to pursue the parent demographic.”
After the awards were announced at a NENPA conference in Boston on Saturday, The Recorder’s editor congratulated the reporters for winning the top awards from among scores of competitors in New England.
“It shows that even small dailies in this day and age can do good journalism that benefits the communities they serve,” Forcier said.
“We aren’t the New York Times, but The Recorder staff is nothing if not dedicated to doing the best job we can for our readers with the resources we have. This small staff does an amazing job.”
“These journalism awards are a result of talent, hard work, and our company’s commitment to quality, local news and photography,” said Mike Rifanburg, publisher of the Recorder and its sister publications in Hampshire County. “I am extremely proud of our staff’s achievements.”
Jeffrey Good, executive editor of the papers, added: “At a time when people worry about ‘fake news,’ these awards remind us that the Pioneer Valley has more than its share of real news stories produced by people who live here and care deeply about this community.”
Sister paper The Daily Hampshire Gazette also won several awards. In the arts and entertainment category, Gazette staff writer Steve Pfarrer won top honors. Former Gazette Editor Larry Parnass won first place in history reporting. Freelancer Phoebe Helander also won first place for a Gazette photo illustration on a page designed by Lucy Pickett.
And from the Valley Advocate, Hunter Styles, arts editor, won first place in arts and entertainment reporting for weekly newspapers. And Amanda Drane, now a Gazette reporter, won first place in the social issues feature category.