The Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspaper collected several awards at the Maine Press Association’s 2016 Better Newspaper Contest held Saturday, Oct. 29 at the Double Tree by Hilton in South Portland. Both newspapers were competing in the Weekly 1 division, which are weeklies with a circulation of 4,000 or less.

The Boothbay Register took top honors over all weeklies in the state in General Excellence-Digital (website) and third place in the Weekly 1 division for General Excellence-Print. The Wiscasset Newspaper took second place in the state in General Excellence-Digital. It is the third straight year that the Register has won a prize for its website, taking second place last year and first place (combined with Wiscasset Newspaper) in 2014.

The following individual awards were received by the staff of both newspapers:

First place, Sue Mello, for News/Sports Headline, "Sex, texts and jiu jitsu," a story on a court case.

First place, Mike Scarborough, Best Supplement Cover, "Summertime 2015," featuring a photograph by Robert Mitchell

First place, Mike Scarborough, Advertising Supplement/Special Section, "Summertime 2015"

First place, Suzi Thayer, Business/Economics Story, "Joe Norton builds walls and art"

Second place, Bill Pearson, Feature Story, "Boothbay man invented spy gadgets during 20-year CIA career," a two-part feature on Henry Rowe.

Second place, Gina Hamilton, Wiscasset Newspaper, News Analysis, "From flagship to shoestring," a story on the defunding of Two Bridges Regional Jail

Third place, Suzi Thayer, Local Columnist,"Another Friday night in Edgecomb"

The person who judged the weekly websites for General Excellence-Digital category wrote in part: “I think the Boothbay Register has the cleanest look of the lot, which is why I’ve selected it as my top choice — however, I could easily swap it with Wiscasset. A small and local publication is going to do best when it foregrounds information that others don’t provide, which is why I think the Police/Fire notifications bar and the local Obits bar at the top of the web is a really thoughtful way to build around the central news bar.”

The judge who picked “Summertime 2015” as the overall winner wrote: “Fantastic quality! A true magazine that will stay in the readers’ hands.” And the judge who picked the cover of Summertime 2015 as the winning entry wrote: “Beautiful, eye-catching photo coupled with clean font choices make for a great cover.”

The judge’s comments regarding Thayer’s winning Business/Economics story were: “Suzi Thayer gets to the ‘bedrock’ of the community with this business story of a mason-artisan-artist. Thayer goes beyond a standard business story and finds the human story behind the business.”

Regarding Mello’s winning headline, the judge wrote: “Tell me you wouldn’t read that story.”

Writers and editors of the Register’s and Wiscasset Newspaper’s sister online newspaper, Penobscot Bay Pilot (penbaypilot.com) took home several first, second and special section awards, in the Weekly 2 category (weekly newspapers with a circulation of more than 4,000, and digital-only news sites). The Pilot awards include:

First place, Eva Murray, Local Columnist, for her piece, “Maine Veterans and most sentimental biker”

First place, Ron Hawkes, Sports News Story, “How and why Camden Hills High School leaders terminated the 2015 football season.”

First place, Lynda Clancy, Education Story, “Camden Hills High School swamped by emails, calls from across country following administrator’s Facebook post”

First place, Lynda Clancy, Analysis, “Knox RCC, On the front line with every emergency”

Second place, Lynda Clancy, Special Online Project, “L’Hermione glides to Castine with pageantry and so many friends”

First place, Lynda Clancy, Scenic Photo, L'Hermione

Second place, Lynda Clancy, News Video, “Hope horsewoman readies Wyoming mustang for Aug. 8 Extreme Makeover”

First place, Holly Edwards, News Photo, Down the Ladder

Second place, Holly Edwards, Spot News Photo

Third place, Kay Stephens, Business Story, “Union woman opens free thrift shop in her home, giving away items to anyone in need”