VTDigger picked up 12 journalism prizes at this year’s New England Newspaper & Press Association conference on Saturday in Waltham, Massachusetts, including five first-place finishes.
Vermont’s statewide digital news organization was honored in a variety of fields in the association’s 2023 New England Better Newspaper Competition, including reporting, photography, newsletters and graphics. VTDigger’s entire staff won second place in the prestigious “General Excellence” category among news services and online news sites.
Emma Cotton, who covers energy, the environment and climate change for VTDigger, came in first place in two categories. Her November 2022 investigation of Montpelier’s aging drinking water infrastructure won top honors in “Environmental Reporting,” and her January 2023 report on Washington Electric Cooperative’s response to a major power outage did so in the “Energy News & Reporting” category.
Photographer Glenn Russell took home several prizes. He came in first in the “General News Photo” category for an image of a Burlington protest for the Tigrayan people of Ethiopia, and second place in the same category for his iconic photograph of a goose swimming down Main Street in Montpelier during the historic flooding of July 2023. Russell’s flood coverage also took second place in the “Photo Series” category.
VTDigger’s Final Reading newsletter, an insider’s guide to politics and policy in the Vermont Statehouse, took first place in the “Outstanding Newsletter” category. During the 2023 legislative session, Statehouse bureau chief Sarah Mearhoff was the lead writer of Final Reading, which also featured contributions from the entire VTDigger state government team.
VTDigger’s most delicious piece of journalism in 2023 also won recognition. NENPA named data reporter Erin Petenko’s Vermont Creemee Database the “Best Infographic on Website.”
Other VTDigger coverage honored at the awards ceremony included:
- Crime and Courts Reporting (second place) — Ethan Weinstein for his coverage of the death of a 46-year-old man at a Springfield prison.
- Education Reporting (second place) — Peter D’Auria for a story exploring why Bennington Elementary School called the police on its own students more than a dozen times.
- Social Issues Feature Story (second place) — Shaun Robinson for a profile of a St. Albans man experiencing homelessness.
- Racial, Ethnic or Gender Issue Coverage (third place) — Auditi Guha for a piece about a Colchester man’s efforts to teach Afghan refugee women to drive.
NENPA represents more than 450 news organizations throughout New England. This year’s competition covered work published from August 2022 through July 2023. VTDigger generally competed in a division that includes news services and other online news sites, though it won several awards (among them energy reporting, outstanding newsletter and best infographic) in a combined class that included all entrants.
“What an honor it is to win these awards,” said VTDigger CEO Sky Barsch. “It’s a testament to our deep commitment to serve Vermont by producing high-quality, nonpartisan, original journalism. I’m grateful for our newsroom leadership for guiding our coverage during an extremely busy news year. And congratulations to our peers — here in Vermont and throughout New England — for their wins, as well.”
VTDigger editor-in-chief Paul Heintz noted the breadth of coverage honored by VTDigger’s peers. “No matter the medium and no matter the beat, the journalism our hardworking and talented colleagues produce is top-notch,” he said. “I’m proud to work with a team so focused on telling the story of Vermont and holding the powerful to account.”