The 2026 New England Newspaper of the Year awards have been presented, recognizing outstanding daily, weekly, specialty and online newspapers across our region. View the 2026 winners and past winners at the bottom of this page.
Entries for the next competition will open in summer 2027. Entry guidelines and eligibility details will be available when the competition opens.
The New England Newspaper & Press Association’s prestigious “New England Newspaper of the Year” award honors newspapers in a range of circulation categories. This is a one-of-a-kind competition—the only distinction of its kind in the newspaper industry judged by audience members. New England newspaper readers evaluate entries from a news consumer’s point of view and decide which deserve the honor of being named Newspaper of the Year.
Readers evaluate each newspaper’s relative strengths and weaknesses, including:
- Quality of reporting and writing
- Use of photos
- Design and presentation
- Digital offering
- Overall utility and value
- General impressions: Does the newspaper inform, educate, entertain, inspire, motivate and lead? Does it reflect and care about the community it serves? Does it put the interests of the reader first? Is it unique or special in some way?
The competition is open to NENPA-member newspapers in five categories: Weekday Newspapers, Sunday Newspapers, Weekly Community Newspapers, Specialty Publications and Online News Sites. Entries are assigned to competitive divisions within their categories after all entries are received, such as small and large weeklies, small and large dailies, small and large Sunday/weekend publications, and local and regional news sites.
The 2026 awards were presented at the 2026 Fall Leadership Summit and Awards Luncheon.
Questions? Please contact Linda Conway at l.conway@nenpa.com.