The Day, Free Press win '06 Public Service awards
CONCORD, N.H. --The Day of New London, Conn., and The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press won the 2006 New England Associated Press News Executives Association awards for public service journalism.
The Day won the Thomas K. Brindley Award, for newspapers of under 40,000 daily circulation, for its coverage of the eminent domain case that found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Free Press and editorial page editor Susan Reid won the Sevellon Brown Award, for newspapers over 40,000 circulation, for a year-long editorial examination of a proposal to place wind turbines along the ridgelines of Vermont mountains.
The awards will be presented at NEAPNEA's May 16 workshop at The Boston Globe on watchdog journalism.
"In the hands of experienced reporters and editors, what could have been routine government interaction was transformed to graceful, evocative storytelling," the judges said of The Day's work. "The reporting was clear and even-handed, the stakes were rendered easily apparent and the human and governmental toll broken into sharp relief."
The dispute, which the court decided in the city's favor, focused national attention on the rights of private property owners versus New London's desire to push forward a project with major economic implications for the city.
The Free Press' opposition to the wind turbine proposal was described as "courageous and illuminating."
"The writer staked out an unpopular position, explored various angles and kept it newsy," wrote one judge. "She used the editorial page to let a lot of voices be heard from both sides. She seems to have crystallized the arguments and given a voice to people in several different little towns. She seems to have moved the governor and gotten the regulators to slow down a bit."
The Sevellon Brown Award is named for the late editor and publisher of The Providence Journal, founder of the American Press Institute, fellow of the Academy of New England Journalists and a founder of NEAPNEA.
The Thomas K. Brindley Award honors the late managing editor of The Herald News of Fall River, Mass., a fellow of the New England academy and a lifetime executive committee member of NEAPNEA.
