BAR HARBOR — The Maine Press Association held its annual conference/dinner Oct. 21 in Bar Harbor, feting Maine journalists, and media production and sales staff with awards. The Penobscot Bay Pilot joined its colleagues across the state in taking home individual recognitions, including three first-place awards and one third-place in the writing category.

The Maine Press Association’s annual Fall Conference and Better Newspaper Contest held at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel and Event Center included seminars and the MPA Hall of Fame ceremony, where longtime Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander Publisher Alan Baker and retired Bangor Daily News Executive Editor Mark Woodward were inducted.

Matt Stone, of the Bangor Daily News, earned the annual Journalist of the Year award, and was cited for his persistent diligence and digging into state government, especially Maine’s Health and Human Services department, and his work on how millions of dollars were redirected from accounts intended for children of low-income families. 

At the Pilot, Sarah Thompson earned first place in the Sports Profile, Weekly Two, for her story on local trainers Chris Chacon and Jack Hauprich, entitled C and J Strength and Conditioning: Creating a business from within.

“A staggering tale of two young men, who overcame their own handicaps and help build a business for student athletes to have the careers they never could,” wrote the judges.

Awards also went to Lynda Clancy, who earned first place in the Special Online Project category with “America’s Wild Mustang: Who’s got their backs,” a story about a herd of wild horses in Utah.

She also a earned first place the Continuing Story category for her ongoing coverage of the fiscal issues at the Camden Snow Bowl, including one Camden citizen’s persistent inquiry to the Snow Bowl finances. “Camden and the Snow Bowl redevelopment: One citizen's inquiry into the cash flow”

Judges wrote: “Just because officials own to poor performance doesn’t mean newspapers can ignore the details. That’s exactly what Clancy did here, digging into the poor performance of a municipally owned ski area.”

Lynda Clancy earned a third place in the Analysis category about a local boatyard owner, writer, artist, developer and hotelier working together to change the landscape at the southern edge of Rockport Village to invite younger families to settle in town, create more gardening, educational and healthcare opportunities. 

The story, “Old friends propose new take on Rockport neighborhood: Workforce housing, gardens, and lots of children,” judges wrote: “brings the dreaded zoning story to life and shows how a community could use its land to go beyond houses and strip malls. Clancy does a nice job of showing why development vision matters to a community, creating space for all incomes and for business and recreational uses.”

Penobscot Bay Pilot's partner sites Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspaper received several awards recognizing achievements in both writing and sales. Boothbay Register received a first place for Digital Excellence for all weekly publications in Maine. This is the third year in a row receiving the award, and is the first year in a row that the Boothbay Register and the PenBayPilot have been recognized for excellence in their online/mobile presences by both the Maine Press Association and the New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA). 

Boothbay Register Editor Kevin Burnham, a former MPA president (2007-2008), stepped down from the current MPA Board of Directors after serving a total of four two-year terms on the board and a total of nine years. Lynda Clancy, editorial director of the Pen Bay Pilot, the online newspaper also owned by Maine-OK Enterprises, Inc., is joining the MPA board for the first time.