Ottaway’s New England Media Groups Win Newspaper of the Year Honors, Among Other Awards

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Two of Ottaway’s New England media groups won Newspaper of the Year awards while all of the company’s regional media groups received many additional honors from the New England Newspaper Association at its annual banquet in Boston on Friday.

SouthCoast Media Group’s The Standard-Times, based in New Bedford, Mass., was named Newspaper of the Year in the daily category for newspapers its size, while Nantucket Media Group’s The Inquirer and Mirror won in the weekly newspaper category, making it the second consecutive win for that publication. It’s also the second such award bestowed on the weekly in as many months, as The Inquirer and Mirror was also named Newspaper of the Year by the New England Press Association last month.

The Standard-Times was among 10 papers to receive a Publick Occurrences Award for outstanding reporting done in the spirit of courage and independence of Publick Occurrences, the nation’s first newspaper. The Standard-Times’ award was given for last summer’s New Immigrants Project, a collaboration between staff writers Becky Evans and Jack Spillane. Photographer Peter Pereira also won a Publick Occurrences Award for his work on the project.

“No newsroom deserves better to win the acknowledgement of its peers for superb community journalism,” said Mary Harrington, publisher of The Standard-Times. “The men and women of The Standard-Times, led by Editor Bob Unger, care until it hurts to produce the most informative, insightful and stunningly illustrated news about SouthCoast that is possible. ... The work on the New Immigrants story is symbolic of the commitment these professionals share to report all that is critical for our communities to know.”

CapeCodonline.com, operated by Ottaway’s Cape Cod Media Group, was named “Best New England Web site.”

“If you can’t be on the Cape, being on capecodonline is the next best thing,” the judges wrote, adding that “CapeCast alone is worth a visit to capecodonline.com.”

Cape Cod Times Chief Photographer Steve Heaslip also received a Publick Occurrences Award for photojournalism for his work chronicling Sen. Edward Kennedy’s sudden illness and battle with cancer. The Cape Cod Times also was honored in the association’s two design categories for the front pages the day after the presidential election and Boston Celtics’ championship win.

Seacoast Media Group’s Portsmouth Herald, based in New Hampshire, won a distinguished newspaper honor for daily newspapers in its circulation category, while the Cape Cod Times won the same for its daily and Sunday newspapers in its size category. The Standard-Times also won a distinguished newspaper honor for its Sunday paper.