The Highlands Current last week received 20 awards in an annual contest organized by the 140-year-old National Newspaper Association for stories and advertisements published in 2024.
At the same time, Joey Asher was named the winner of the annual Golden Quill editorial contest sponsored by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. He traveled to South Dakota to attend the ISWNE conference and accept his award for “Learning Too Late,” a Reporter’s Notebook about his brother-in-law, who struggled with schizophrenia.
The National Newspaper Association contest drew 1,743 entries from community newspapers in 33 states. It was judged by editors and publishers and retired journalism professionals.
Among all newspapers, The Current won first-place awards for video journalism for “A Mother’s Fight for Bridge Barriers,” by Erin Holton, Facundo Martinez and Sofia Milojevic, and for the paper’s website.
Among smaller papers, Brian PJ Cronin (“Free Pipe Organ”), Asher (“Nancy Dolin is a Rock ’n’ Roll Grandma”) and Alison Rooney (“T is for Trombone”) swept the category for performing arts stories.
Also among smaller papers, Cronin won first place for environmental reporting for “Talking Trash, Part 1”; Clay Jones took second place for editorial cartoon (below); Jeff Simms won second place for obituary tributes for his story about former Beacon Mayor Clara Lou Gould; and Asher won third for feature series for “The Good Death.” The paper also received honorable mentions for sports column and health story and, among all weeklies, for its reader-generated campaign, Baby and Dog.
Among mid-sized weeklies, Cronin won first place for in-depth series for “Talking Trash” and Asher won second place for “Modern Immigrants.”
Among smaller weeklies, Leonard Sparks won first place for his business story, “Who Will Watch the Kids?”; Ross Corsair won second for his feature photo, “Martial Art” (below); and Pierce Strudler won second for color ad and third for front-page design. The paper also won honorable mentions for information graphics and sports photo.
