Thank you to everyone who entered the 2025 New England Better Newspaper Competition! The contest is now officially closed, and we are energized and grateful for the incredible response we received this year. Newsrooms and student publications from across New England submitted a significantly higher number of entries—reflecting the strength, dedication, and creativity of our region’s journalists.
The Better Newspaper Competition is New England’s largest journalism recognition program, celebrating the skill, passion, and determination it takes to produce top-quality journalism. Each year, this prestigious competition honors outstanding work from NENPA member news organizations and student publications, highlighting the vital role local news plays in our communities.
Work published by NENPA member organizations between August 1, 2024, and July 31, 2025, was eligible for entry.
Competition Divisions
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Editorial / Multimedia / Photography Division
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Advertising / Circulation / Promotion Division
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College / University Division
Information packets are distributed each year that include category descriptions, complete rules and guidelines, judging criteria, and a helpful FAQ section with tips for preparing entries—such as reducing PDF sizes, extracting pages, and combining files.
This year, we expanded the competition with eight new categories to recognize emerging forms of storytelling and important coverage areas:
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Social Media Portfolio
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Home & Garden Writing
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Housing News
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Critics Award
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Good News Award
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Protest and Demonstration Coverage
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Immigration Reporting
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250th Celebration Coverage
Awards will be presented at the 2026 New England Newspaper Convention, with the official date and location to be announced soon.
Thank you again for making this year’s competition one of our strongest yet. We look forward to celebrating your exceptional journalism in 2026! If you have questions about your submitted entries, please reach out to L.Conway@nenpa.com or T.Cleary@nenpa.com.
