Montclair Local wins 29 awards in statewide press contest
Montclair Local has won 29 awards, including nine for first place, in the New Jersey Press Association’s annual contest for weekly newspapers, for work done in 2022.
The first-place awards were given for coverage of stories ranging from the campaign to pass a $187.7 million bond referendum measure to upgrade Montclair’s schools to a controversial proposal for a housing and office development on Elm Street to a plan to redraw the boundaries of the township’s Fourth Ward, and included four top prizes for photography, including best portfolio.
Reporter Talia Wiener won two first-place awards and shared a third, winning in the ongoing/extended coverage category for her stories on the school bonds campaign and in the education category for a story on students and parents seeking support on grieving from the school district. Wiener and former associate editor Jaimie Julia Winters shared the top prize in coverage of crime, police and the courts, and Wiener also won a second-place award and two third places.
The contest judges wrote of Wiener’s story on grieving students: “It was solidly done, well-sourced and organized.”
Kate Albright, a freelance photographer for Montclair Local, also received three first-place awards, along with two seconds and three thirds. Her first-place honors were for best portfolio, for pictorial, titled “Holiday lights,” and for protest, “Lukoil protest.”
The judges wrote of her portfolio: “Faces tell the story and this entry had a plethora of good photos.”
Winters also won the Art Weissman Memorial Award for coverage of government, for her stories about a proposal to build housing and offices on Elm Street, and two third-place awards.
Former Montclair Local Editor-in-Chief Louis C. Hochman won first place in the fresh approach to routine reporting category, for a story about a controversial plan to redraw the lines of the Fourth Ward. He also won a second-place award and a third-place award.
Kathleen Carroll, a member of Montclair Local’s board of directors, won a first-place award in photography in the spot news category, for “Treatment for feline fire victim.”
The contest was judged by the Minnesota Press Association.
The awards will be presented at an NJPA dinner and ceremonies on April 27.
Following is the list of awards won by Montclair Local.
First place, editorial
Wiener, ongoing/extended coverage
Wiener, education writing
Hochman, fresh approach to routine reporting
Winters, coverage of government
Wiener, Winters, coverage of crime, police, courts
First place,
photography
Albright, portfolio
Albright, pictorial
Albright, protest
Carroll, spot news
Second place, editorial
Craig Wolff, senior
consulting editor, feature writing
Andrea Bondy, paginator, editorial section layout and content
Hochman, enterprise
Wiener, First Amendment Award
Joe Dziublenski, production editor, headlines
Second place,
photography
Karsten Englander, Montclair State University student, feature
Emma Hot, Montclair State University student, pictorial
Albright, picture story
Albright, protest
Third place, editorial
Carla Baranauckas,
editor-in-chief;
Wolff; Winters;
Hank Greenberg,
reporter, First Amendment Award
Hochman, investigative reporting
Wiener, environmental writing
Winters, business and
economics writing
Bondy, sports section
layout and content
Wiener, coverage of
elections and politics
Dziublenski, headlines
Third place,
photography
Albright, general news
Albright, pictorial
Albright, protest
Carroll, spot news