For Third Time, Current Named Newspaper of Year

Wins 18 editorial and advertising awards at annual contest

For the third straight year, The Highlands Current was named Newspaper of the Year by the New York Press Association at its annual conference on Saturday (April 27).

As in 2023, the weekly shared the award with the daily Times Union in Albany. The honor is based on the number of points scored in the Better Newspaper Contest organized by the NYPA. The Current won the award outright in 2022.

Overall, the paper won 13 editorial awards, including Photographer of the Year (Ross Corsair), and five advertising awards, including Pierce Strudler’s sweep of the small-ad category among smaller newspapers. The paper has won 139 NYPA awards since 2013.

The winners were selected in 70 categories by members of the Tennessee Press Association from 2,530 entries submitted by 142 small and medium-sized papers and digital news sites.

Along with Newspaper of the Year, The Current won five awards among papers of all sizes:

■ Photographer of the Year to Ross Corsair;

Corsair’s winning portfolio

■ Coverage of Business, Financial & Economic News, first place, for a package of stories by Jeff Simms, Joey Asher, Michael Turton and Leonard Sparks;
■ Graphic Illustration, first place, to Deb Lucke for Gwen Laster’s Violin Speaks;
■ Audience Development Promotion, second place, to Teresa Lagerman and Emily Hare, for the summer Ice Cream Passport campaign; and
■ Video, third place, to Corsair, for A Philipstown Holiday.

The Current also won 12 awards among smaller papers:

■ Feature Story, first place, to Turton for A Rarity Even Among Rarities;
■ Feature Story, second place, to Alison Rooney for Robots of the Mind;
■ Coverage of Education, second place, for a package of stories by Asher, Simms, Erin-Leigh Hoffman and Mackenzie Boric;
■ Sports Feature, third place, to Turton for his profile of former boxer Bob Bozic;
■ Sports Feature, honorable mention, to Asher for his story on the Sports Bra Project;
■ Feature Photo, second place, to Corsair, for his shot of a kiss for Santa;
■ Feature Photo, honorable mention, to Corsair, for his shot of a boy peering out from a Halloween costume;
■ Picture Story, second place, to Corsair, for Thrill-Seekers;
■ Small Ad, to Pierce Strudler, first place, for an ad for Christ Church in Beacon;
■ Small Ad, to Strudler, second place, for an ad for Community Nursery School;
■ Small Ad, to Strudler, third place, for an ad for Cold Spring Fish; and
■ House Ad/Campaign, second place, to Lagerman, for the Halloween Costume Contest.

In addition, the series Beacon: Then, Now and How, by Simms, Sparks and Brian PJ Cronin, is among three finalists for best coverage by a newspaper with a circulation of less than 100,000 awarded by the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The winner will be announced May 16.