By Heidi Sutton

From news articles and sports stories to photography, ad projects and classifieds, Times Beacon Record News Media raked in seven awards from this year’s New York Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. The winners were announced during NYPA’s annual Spring Conference on April 29 and 30. 

Participating newspapers competed for awards in 67 categories with 132 newspapers submitting a total of 2,481 entries which were judged by members of the Nebraska Press Association.

Former editor Julianne Mosher won third place in the Coverage of Crime/Police/Courts category. “Good reporting of a difficult story,” said the judge.

Sports writer Steven Zaitz won second place in the Sports Writer of the Year category. “Zaitz’s game coverage is very detailed with multiple sources used for quotes adding perspective. He gets his reader intimately familiar with the teams and athletes he’s writing about,” commented the judge.

Sports photographer Bill Landon also did well, winning third place in the Sports Action Photo category, with the judge commenting, “Great action shots of the game, as well as a reaction shot of the win. The combination shows just what this win meant for the team.”

TBR News Media won second place in the Innovate Ad Project category for its coloring book featuring Long Island artists. “Great marriage of talent and time for the dark times of COVID-19. It can be hard to support the arts, and this is a great way to do it. I think this one will get better and better,” said the judge.

The paper placed second in the Best Advertising Campaign category for its Buttercup Dairy Store ads, an easy decision for the judge. “[This] was such a sweet set of ads. I loved that they decided to focus on a few items for their specials. You can tell exactly who the ad is for. And the anniversary ad with the old photos is what did it for me. That level of personalization included into an ad would make me want to shop there! I’d love to hear their stories. Awesome job!”

The paper also won third place in the Best Advertising Campaign category for its Jolie Powell Realty ads. “I’m amazed on the number of runs this ad had and that each time it was very different. I can tell that this took some time. The use of graphics is excellent. Great job!” said the judge.

Rounding out the awards, the paper received an honorable mention in the Classified Advertising category with the judge commenting, “Clean layout, easy finding the section you want.”

“We are, of course, thrilled to continue our winning ways in the annual New York Press Association Better Newspaper Contest,” said TBR News Media Publisher Leah Dunaief. “As I like to say each year, blessings on all our clearly talented staff members, without whose Herculean efforts we could not prevail.”