We are thrilled to announce the addition of a new series of awards to our annual Fall Awards Program, which already includes prestigious honors like the New England Newspaper of the Year, Publick Occurrences, Allan B. Rogers Editorial Award, New England First Amendment Award, AP Sevellon Brown New England Journalist of the Year, Bob Wallack Community Journalism Award, and The Cornerstone Award.

This year, we are introducing new awards with cash prizes totaling up to $90,000. These awards will celebrate excellence in investigative journalism, impactful reporting, and the pursuit of truth. The criteria for these new prizes are still being finalized, but we are excited to share more information soon.

All awards will be presented at our Fall Conference, with the location to be announced shortly.

Submissions for all awards will open in early June, so keep an eye out for more details.

Stay tuned for more updates, and start thinking about the powerful stories you’ve brought to light this past year.

The New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA) is excited to announce the launch of its 2025 Summer Webinar Series, presented by NENPA University, designed to provide practical insights, hands-on training, and expert guidance for media professionals across the region. Whether you’re looking to sharpen your sales strategy, explore emerging journalism trends, or enhance your digital media skills, these sessions are designed to keep your newsroom ahead of the curve.

These sessions are free to NENPA members and are available to non-members at a reasonable cost of $15 per attendee, or a group of 4 or more people for $45.

Upcoming Webinars

• Silencing the Fourth Estate: Legal Tactics Threatening U.S. Press Freedom – Thursday, May 29, 1:00 p.m. EDT
  Join award-winning journalist and New York Times Deputy Investigations Editor David Enrich for a timely discussion on the growing use of legal pressure tactics to silence the press. Drawing on years of investigative experience, Enrich will examine how these methods are eroding the foundations of a free press and what journalists can do to protect their rights.
  Register here
• Make a Media Kit That Sells in 2025 – Tuesday, June 10, 1:00 p.m. EDT
  Join Kenny Katzgrau, publisher of RedBankGreen and creator of Broadstreet, for a hands-on workshop that will walk you through the essential elements of a high-impact media kit. Learn the seven must-have components, see real-world examples, and get a ready-to-use template to jumpstart your next media kit refresh.
  Register here

What’s Coming Up Next?

The series will continue throughout the summer with sessions on:

• Journalists Becoming Influencers – How the role of influencers differs from traditional journalists and what this shift means for newsrooms.
• Solidarity Journalism – Exploring the principles and practice of journalism that centers community voices and marginalized perspectives.

Stay tuned for more details as additional sessions and speakers are confirmed. We hope you’ll join us for one or all of these engaging and informative webinars!

For more information, visit the NENPA University page.

If you have suggestions for a new training session, would like to be contacted about future workshops, or have any questions or problems registering for these webinars, contact Tara Cleary at t.cleary@nenpa.com.

The Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF) announced Wednesday the launch of a new initiative to strengthen Maine communities by ensuring strong, local news coverage in all parts of the state. MaineCF applied and has been selected by the nonpartisan philanthropic initiative Press Forward to become one of 36 independent chapters nationwide.

Press Forward and Press Forward Maine share the goal of strengthening communities by reinvigorating local news. Press Forward Maine will be housed within MaineCF and led by Senior Advisor Lisa DeSisto, former CEO of Maine Today Media and the Maine Trust for Local News. The initial focus will be building a broad-based advisory panel to identify and prioritize the best ways to reimagine and expand access to local reporting.

“Our own research and the ‘Strengthening Maine’s Civic Life’ report we funded last year tell us two things,” said MaineCF CEO Deborah Ellwood. “One, most people in Maine are interested in reading and learning about their communities but, two, may encounter barriers for understanding how they can engage and participate locally. Press Forward Maine will bring people and resources together to close that gap because quality reporting means people can learn about any issue, understand how to get involved, have their voice heard and find solutions together. We are very pleased Lisa DeSisto is joining to help lead this effort as senior advisor and excited to get to work with our donors and partners.”

DeSisto, who also worked at the Boston Globe for 17 years before leading Maine’s largest media organization through many changes over 13 years, said, “I know all too well that these are changing times in the news business. This is important work and am glad to continue as senior advisor to Press Forward Maine. We are committed to contributing to a vibrant media ecosystem by partnering with large and small news organizations. As a nonprofit community foundation with a 42-year record of working in communities across all 16 Maine counties, Maine Community Foundation is the perfect institution to convene media partners and craft new models for collaboration and innovation to better engage with Maine people.”

Read more

The Center for Community News at UVM annual benchmark study reveals significant growth in university-led reporting programs in 2025. Among the more than 200 news-academic programs across the country, 48 new ones have been initiated since the data was last collected in 2024.

“Colleges of every size are stepping up to help fill critical information gaps in their communities,” said CCN Director Richard Watts. “And their students are getting invaluable hands-on experience in the process.”

News-academic reporting programs have emerged as one viable solution to the crisis facing local news, and an opportunity for the next generation to engage with their communities. The Center for Community News at UVM is the only organization in the nation tracking the growth of this field and its potential to help reimagine a sustainable future for local journalism.

2025 was a big year for news-academic reporting programs. CCN found that public and Minority Serving Institutions are leading the pack. Other attributes of strong news-academic programs include the presence of experienced faculty-practitioners and statewide collaborations across colleges.

Here are a few key findings from the 2025 data:

• 172 colleges and universities in the U.S. have existing or emerging news-academic partnerships today.
• There are 227 total news-academic programs in existence or emerging (some schools now offer multiple programs).
• There are 48 emerging news-academic programs in 2025, a 27 percent increase over 2024.
• Minority Serving Institutions now run 40 news-academic reporting programs.
• 69 percent of news-academic reporting programs are at public institutions and 31 percent are at private institutions.

Learn more and read the full report

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) has announced the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees and special honors recipients, recognizing influential figures who have made significant contributions to journalism. Among the honorees are two Boston-area journalism leaders: Callie Crossley and Gregory L. Moore.

Callie Crossley, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1988, is a member of the prestigious Academy of New England Journalists and a recipient of the Yankee Quill Award in 2019. She has made a lasting impact as a respected commentator, radio host, and advocate for media diversity. Her work on GBH and in broader journalism circles has elevated critical conversations about race, culture, and community.

Gregory L. Moore spent many years at The Boston Globe, rising through the ranks to become managing editor in 1994. During his tenure, he supervised coverage of major events such as the September 11 attacks and the Charles Stuart case. Moore’s leadership at the Globe set the stage for his subsequent role as editor of The Denver Post, where, during his tenure, The Denver Post won four Pulitzer Prizes.

Both will be honored during the #NABJ25 Convention & Career Fair in Cleveland, OH, Aug 6 – 10, 2025. The Hall of Fame Induction and Luncheon will be held on Friday, Aug. 8, at 12 PM EDT.

Read the full announcement from NABJ here to learn more about all of this year’s inductees and their remarkable careers.

Among this week’s Pulitzer Prize winners, the Local Reporting award, shared by the Baltimore Banner and the New York Times, showcased how data and collaboration fuel breakthrough journalism at scale. The broader collaboration behind this effort—documenting how the fentanyl crisis has disproportionately affected a generation of older Black men—included Stanford’s Big Local News and nine other news outlets across the country, from the Boston Globe to the San Francisco Standard. Each publication reported and ran stories that leveraged the same underlying data from the CDC, but with the proper context for each city.

The nature of this collaboration was one of the topics at last month’s Story Discovery at Scale convening at Stanford University, hosted by Big Local News. In its third year, the event brought together about 70 data journalists, product folks, academics and multi-hyphenates of local news. Over two days, they shared the latest best practices and worked on new ideas for tools, training and collaborative approaches to help newsrooms unlock stories, add context and increase output.

Read more

As the summer and fall months approach, it’s an ideal time for journalists to consider opportunities for professional development, networking, and industry insights. Conferences provide a valuable chance to connect with peers, exchange ideas, and sharpen your skills in an ever-evolving media landscape.

If you can’t get out to one of the live events, there are numerous free or low-cost webinars available year-round. NENPA curates a list of these at https://www.nenpa.com/calendar/. In addition, the NENPA University’s summer webinar series will be starting up soon, offering virtual training sessions designed to keep you up to date on the latest industry trends, tools, and strategies.

Whether you’re a conference veteran or a first-time attendee, this is the season to engage with colleagues, discover best practices, and gain fresh perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing journalism today. From large industry gatherings to specialized events focused on investigative reporting, digital transformation, and community journalism, there are numerous options to consider.

Poynter has curated a growing list of journalism conferences happening throughout 2025, including both in-person and virtual options. If you know of one they’ve missed, be sure to let them know. Check out the full list here to start planning your professional development for the year ahead.