Seven Days Wins 30 Vermont Press Association Awards

Seven Days picked up 30 journalism awards, including 13 first-place prizes, at the Vermont Press Association’s annual meeting Thursday in Montpelier.

VPA officials handed out awards for two separate contests — one covering July 2015 through June 2016 and one covering July 2016 through June 2017 — at the gathering, held at the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Conference Center. The VPA includes 11 daily newspapers and four dozen non-dailies.

Seven Days, Vermont’s free, independent newsweekly, won recognition in categories ranging from news to arts to photography, competing in the non-daily division. It earned the top prize, “Best of Vermont, General Excellence,” in the 2016-2017 contest. 

The paper’s arts staff — including assistant editor Dan Bolles, music editor Jordan Adams, staff writer Rachel Elizabeth  Jones and contributing writer Alex Brown — swept the “John D. Donoghue Award for Arts Criticism,” winning first, second and third place in  both contest years. Adams was also named  “Rookie of the Year” for 2016-2017.
Seven Days’ news team won top honors  for “Best State Story” (political editor Paul Heintz) and “Best Local Story” (staff writer Molly Walsh). The VPA handed staff writer Alicia  Freese its 2016-2017 “Mavis Doyle Award,” which recognizes a reporter’s “aggressiveness, determination, compassion, commitment to journalism, dedication to social justice, and unwavering belief that journalism should be the watchdog of the government and the voice of the people.” (Staff writer Katie Jickling won “Best Local Story” in the 2015-2016 contest for work she did at the Herald of Randolph.)

Seven Days also picked up three first-place awards in the columnist categories: Heintz for “Political/ Hard News” and Bolles and staff writer Ken Picard for “Features/ Lifestyle/ Humor.” 

Staff photographer Matthew Thorsen won first-place in the “General News Photo” category, while multimedia journalist James Buck won first for “Sports Photo.”

“We’re honored that the judges recognized Seven Days for both news and arts writing, and for distinctive photography,” said publisher Paula Routly.

“And we’re grateful to our readers and advertisers for supporting a locally owned media company. If you enjoy Seven Days’ high-quality local journalism, thank our advertisers for making it possible. Most of them are small, locally owned businesses just like us.”

“Lastly, we’re proud to be part of the VPA, whose members work tirelessly to provide essential coverage to their communities,” said Routly. “Vermonters are very fortunate to have so many great local newspapers.”

“We’re grateful to our readers and advertisers for supporting a locally owned media company.”

The full list of Seven Days’ VPA awards

Best of Vermont, General Excellence (non-daily):

2015-2016:
2nd place: Seven Days

2016-2017:
1st place: Seven Days

Outstanding Website (non-daily):

2016-2017:
1st place: Seven Days

Mavis Doyle Award (all newspapers):

2015-2016:

• Honorable mention: Mark Davis
  – “Vermont Sheriff Risks His Career by Hiring a Sex Offender“
  – “Missing Mohammed: An Ill Man’s Plight Shows Gaps in Mental Health System“
  – “Bennington Locks Up More People Than Any Other Vermont County“
  – “Police Killing of a Mentally Ill Man Raises Questions — Again“
  – “A First-Time Drug Offender Gets 10 Years. Is It Racism?“
  – “Preside Show: An Ugly Estate Case Spotlights a ‘Side’ Judge“

2016-2017:

• 1st place: Alicia Freese
  – “In the Trump Era, Does Vermont Need More Abortion Options?“
  – “Backs to the Wall: Vermont’s Sole Juvenile Lockup Is Hard Up for Cash“
  – “Report Card: Studied to Death by the Vermont Legislature“
  – “Governing by Numbers: Is Scott’s ‘Six-Three-One’ Slogan Good Public Policy?“
  – “Gibbs and the Gov: Is Scott’s Chief of Staff Running the Show?“
  – “Suit Challenges What Vermont’s AG Can Keep Confidential“

Rookie of the Year (all newspapers):

2015-2016:

• 2nd place: Kymelya Sari
  – “Hate Crime Victim Fatuma Bulle Advocates for Refugee Women and Families“
  – “Missing the Signs: Vermont’s Deaf Bhutanese are Isolated and Underserved“
  – “Leading Ladies: New American Women in Vermont“

2016-2017:

• 1st place: Jordan Adams
  – “Wren Kitz Dematerializes on His New Album“
  – “Soundbites: Mister Disaster“
  – “Kamasi Washington Leads a New Guard in Jazz“

Best State Story (non-daily):

2015-2016:

• 1st place: “The Gun: How I Bought an AR-15 in a Five Guys Parking Lot,” Paul Heintz
  
• 3rd place: “Vermont Sheriff Risks His Career by Hiring a Sex Offender,” Mark Davis

2016-2017:

• 2nd place: Opioid reporting, Mark Davis
  – “Death by Drugs: Opiates Claimed a Record Number of Vermonters in 2016“
  – “Brothers’ Keeper: A Mom Wants a Dealer to Pay for Her Sons’ Overdose Deaths“
  – “Vermont Leaders Make a Case for Opiate Prescription Data Transparency“
  – “Do No Harm: New Rules Discourage Overprescribing Opiates“
  – “Not-So-Rapid Intervention: Plan to Help Addicted Defendants Falls Short“
  
• Honorable mention: “Fear on the Farm: Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Threatens Vermont’s Dairy Industry,” Paul Heintz

Best Local Story (non-daily):

2015-2016:

• 2nd place: “Missing Mohamed: An Ill Man’s Plight Shows Gaps in Mental Health System,” Mark Davis
  
• Honorable mention: Burlington College reporting, Alicia Freese
  – “Burlington College Preps for a Big Test“
  – “After Burlington College’s Collapse, More Questions Than Answers“
  – “Education, Interrupted: Burlington College Students Pick Up the Pieces“

2016-2017:

• 1st place: “Too Soon: Could the Suicide of a Burlington Artist Have Been Prevented?” Molly Walsh
  

John Donoghue Award for Arts Criticism (all newspapers):

2015-2016:

• 1st place: Dan Bolles
  – Album Review: Black Rabbit, Red Flannel Hash
  – Album Review: Reverend Ben Donovan & the Congregation, Reverend Ben Donovan & the Congregation
  – Album Review: Gregory Douglass, My Hero, the Enemy
• 2nd place: Alex Brown
  – Theater Review: ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ Vermont Shakespeare Company
  – Theater Review: ‘Outside Mullingar,’ Dorset Theatre Festival
  – Theater Review: ‘Tribes,’ Vermont Stage
• 3rd place: Rachel Elizabeth Jones
  – Art Review: Contemporary Native Art Biennial, Montréal
  – Paper Tiger? Katie Hunt Satirizes Media in a Statehouse Exhibit
  – Art Review: ‘Fractured / works on Paper,’ Helen Day Art Center

2016-2017:

• 1st place: Rachel Elizabeth Jones
  – Spectacle and Nostalgia: Fair Reflections
  – Art Review: Robert Mapplethorpe, Montréal Museum of Fine Arts
  – Art Review: ‘Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage,’ Amy E. Tarrant Gallery
• 2nd place: Jordan Adams
  – Album Review: Ebn Ezra, ‘Pax Romana’
  – Album Review: Josh Panda, ‘Shake It Up’
  – Album Review: Dave Kleh, ‘Laugh: A Collection of Drinking Songs From the 802’
• 3rd place: Dan Bolles
  – Album Review: Matteo Palmer, ‘Embers’
  – Album Review: Mark LeGrand, ‘Wrong Turn’
  – Album Review: Wooden Dinosaur, ‘Working Weather’

Column Writing — Features/Lifestyle/Humor (non-daily):

2015-2016:

• 1st place: Dan Bolles

2016-2017:

• 1st place: Ken Picard
  
• 3rd place: Dan Bolles

Column Writing — Political/Hard News (non-daily):

2016-2017:

• 1st place: Paul Heintz
  
• 2nd place: John Walters
  
• 3rd place: Paul Heintz

General News Photo (non-daily):

2015-2016:

• 1st place: Donald Trump Visits Burlington, Matthew Thorsen
  
• 3rd place: Vermonters Jump for Joy at Gay Marriage Ruling, Matthew Thorsen

Feature Photo (non-daily):

2015-2016:

• 2nd place: Jason Gross, Vermont Beard & Mustache, Matthew Thorsen
  

Sports Photo (non-daily):

2015-2016:

• 1st place: Rock Climbing at Petra Cliffs, James Buck

This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2017.

Got something to say?

Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!