New Hampshire journalism has a lot to celebrate, and by extension, so does its readers.
The best work by New Hampshire news outlets across all platforms was recognized through the New Hampshire Press Association’s Distinguished Journalism Contest Thursday night.
The Monitor won 10 awards, seven of them first place, including General Excellence for daily newspapers, which is also referred to as newspaper of the year.
“It’s truly a pleasure to collaborate with this team of smart, dedicated, hardworking journalists,” Monitor Editor Jonathan Van Fleet said. “Every day we hope our work makes a difference in the lives of our readers, which I’m sure is a shared feeling in newsrooms across the state. These awards reaffirm the commitment we, and the rest of the New Hampshire press corps, have to the people of the state.”
Monitor Reporter Cassidy Jensen was named Rookie of the Year in the large daily division and won second place in Government Reporting for a story on Gov. Chris Sununu denying access to public records on the sale of state land by citing executive privilege. Jensen has worked for the Monitor for a year and primarily covers the city of Concord and criminal justice. She’s also written extensively about the state’s housing crisis, worker shortages, homelessness, and government transparency.
Sport reporter Matt Parker won first place for non-breaking sports story for his article about the Hopkinton field hockey championship, titled “Hawks field hockey snaps 29-year title drought with OT win over Bishop Brady. Parker also finished second for Rookie of the Year. Parker, originally from Ohio, is also in his first year and has led the paper’s sports coverage with enthusiasm and grit.
Reporter David Brooks won first place in Community Service for his COVID Tracker, a weekly column that ran on Mondays analyzing the state of the pandemic. The award was a tie with Roberta Baker from the Laconia Daily Sun who covered a series of stories on homelessness. Brooks is one of the paper’s senior reporters who previously worked for the Nashua Telegraph.
Former reporter Teddy Rosenbluth’s three-part series on the often deadly clash between police and people in a mental health crisis, called “Shots Fired” won first place for investigative story or series. After two years at the Monitor, Rosenbluth is now the life sciences reporter at the News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
Freelance photographer Jay Heath won first place for a spot news photo of a fire rescue in Webster.
Besides winning general excellence, the paper as a whole won first place for its special section, called the Impact Report, which highlighted the positive outcomes from many of the Monitor’s stories.
“We are lucky to have talented journalists working at the Monitor,” Van Fleet said. “I’m proud to call them my colleagues.”
Other traditional news outlets, including the Union Leader, New Hampshire Public Radio, Portsmouth Herald, Laconia Daily Sun, Fosters Daily Democrat, Conway Daily Sun, and Keene Sentinel all won awards. So did some college newspapers and some newer news outlets, including the Granite State News Collaborative and New Hampshire Bulletin.
That’s good news for everyone. New Hampshire’s news media has started sharing content more than ever before, which means readers (and listeners) from all over the state can get access to the best work from journalists around the state through their local paper, with just a few exceptions.
Faced with less statewide coverage from the Associated Press, the state’s press corps is working together like never before to make sure anyone with a connection to New Hampshire has the information they need on a daily basis.
New Hampshire’s news media needs the support of its readers and customers now more than ever to continue its mission. And notes like this one, handwritten from a reader and sent to the newsroom just the other day, still mean a lot: “Many of your readers don’t get around much anymore, so your efforts to keep us all informed and entertained show that you are, indeed, ‘on a roll.’ Being grateful for all you do, I send heartfelt wishes for your continued existence.”