The Concord Monitor staff took home two top honors from the New England Newspaper and Press Association, including Sunday Newspaper of the Year for the third year in a row.
The staff earned a Publick Occurrences award for its ‘Rethinking Rundlett’ series, which examined the question Concord voters faced ahead of the last municipal election: Should the school district build a new middle school on raw land on the city’s east side or should the public have a greater say?
This multi-day series relied on contributions across the newsroom; reporters polled 100 city residents, held a two-part community forum and examined a similar but less costly school rebuilding effort in Nashua. This project was published over multiple days and sought to include multiple voices and perspectives. Its aim represented our civic commitment to the Concord community.
“This project is a shining example of local journalism’s role in bringing information to people to help them make truly informed decisions about their communities,” they wrote. “Tremendous work.”
Publick Occurences awards are named after the first newspaper published in the United States and are given to the very best journalism published in New England regardless of circulation size. The royal governor of Boston suppressed the Publick Occurrences newspaper four days after it appeared in 1690.
The Monitor, which has a weekend paper that publishes on Saturdays, was named the best Sunday newspaper in the small circulation category. The Maine Sunday Telegram in Portland won in the large circulation category.
“We’re lucky to have such a talented and hard-working team that produces high-quality journalism for our community and the state of New Hampshire,” said Monitor editor Jonathan Van Fleet. “These awards are gratifying, but at the end of the day, we work for our readers.”