Community Media, the newspaper group that includes Gay City News, racked up 27 awards at the New York State Press Association’s 2011 Better Newspaper Contest, held in Saratoga Springs March 30-31. That showing put the company in fourth place among all newspaper groups in the state.
“It feels good of course to be recognized by our newspaper colleagues for doing good work,” said John Sutter, Community Media’s publisher. “But the real satisfaction in this business comes from trying to write honestly, fairly, and independently every week about local issues that have meaning in the lives of our readers.”
Gay City News earned a total of ten awards, including first place finishes in best color ad produced by the newspaper, best large space ad, and best small space ad, second place showings in coverage of local government and graphic illustration, and a third place award for its editorial pages.
The judges wrote that the newspaper’s local government reporting demonstrated a “deep, wide-reaching coverage of the issues surrounding marriage legalization” and that its editorials “were well thought-out and showed a depth of knowledge.”
Senior designer Vince Joy’s cover illustration of an Occupy Wall Street demonstrator facing a rough cop was judged “great art.”
The Villager, a sister newspaper, won a total of 13 awards, including first place finishes in headline writing, overall photographic excellence, spot news photography, art photography, picture stories, and editorial cartoons. Among the 158 newspapers participating, the Villager placed fifth overall.
The Downtown Express earned two awards, including a first place finish for spot news coverage of the NYPD’s overnight raid of Zuccotti Park, which ended Occupy Wall Street’s two-month-long encampment.
Chelsea Now also won two awards, including first place for coverage of the arts.
In addition to its advertising, local government, graphic illustration, and editorial pages awards, Gay City News placed third for arts coverage and headline writing and won second place awards for large and small space ads.