GHENT–The Columbia Paper has received four awards for journalism from the New York Press Association. The awards–for editorials, a feature story and photography–were announced April 7 and 8 at the association’s annual conference in Saratoga Springs.
The association says that 184 newspapers statewide submitted entries to the 2016 Better Newspaper Contest. In most cases, entries were judged in divisions based on circulation. The Columbia Paper, which circulates just over 2,200 print newspapers weekly, was in Division 1, for papers with circulations under 4,000 weekly.
The Columbia Paper won the first place award for Editorials in Division 1. The editorials submitted for the contest addressed the contempt of court charges against polluter Sal Cascino in Copake, the impact on Columbia County of unequal state funding for public defenders, and the decision by the Chatham Town Board to pay for more road patrols by the county Sheriff’s Office at a time when the town faced a budget deficit.
Contributing photographer B. Docktor won a Second Place award in the Feature Photo category for her Page 1 photo a father and son–the boy in mid-air–enjoying the Ancram pool. The judge in that category called it “a great photograph” and added, “I love the expression.”
Ms. Docktor also won an honorable mention in the Sports Action Photos category for her front page photograph of a dog leaping after a Frisbee at a Hudson River Air Dogs competition in Livingston last summer.
Columbia Paper Associate Editor Diane Valden won an Honorable Mention for her front page story last September about Heather Kromer and her pet chicken, which accompanies Ms. Kromer to work in a public setting. “I love the story,” said the judge, adding, “and the writing really matches the tone…”
The decision of whether to award any honorable mention prize in a category was left up to the judges.
The contest entries, all 2,957 of them in dozens of categories, were judged by members of the North Carolina Press Association.
