The New England Newspaper & Press Association is now accepting entries and nominations for its 2026 Fall Awards Program, recognizing excellence in journalism, editorial leadership, investigative reporting, community service, First Amendment advocacy, journalism education, and overall newsroom impact across New England.

The annual program celebrates the individuals, news organizations, and educators whose work strengthens local journalism and serves communities throughout the region. Awards recognize achievement in reporting, opinion writing, public service, press freedom, community engagement, and newsroom leadership.

The 2026 Fall Awards Program includes:

• 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
• The Cornerstone Award
• New England Journalism Educator of the Year
• A-Mark Prizes

Together, these awards highlight the exceptional work being done by journalists, publishers, educators, and news organizations across New England while recognizing the vital role local journalism plays in informing and strengthening communities.

The entry deadline for all awards is Friday, July 10, 2026.

Additional information, eligibility requirements, nomination guidelines, and entry forms are available at the link below:

DOWNLOAD 2026 NEWSPAPER AWARDS GUIDELINES

We encourage member news organizations, journalism educators, and industry leaders to take this opportunity to recognize outstanding work from the past year and celebrate the people helping shape the future of journalism in New England.

Tucked above the General Store in the center of Harvard, Massachusetts, The Harvard Press operates from the literal heart of the community it covers.

Founded in 2006 after the decline and eventual closure of the town’s former newspaper, the independently owned weekly was created by residents determined to preserve strong local journalism in Harvard.

Today, nearly two decades later, the paper remains deeply woven into community life — covering local government, schools, development, and civic issues while building unusually strong reader support and engagement. At the 2020 Town Meeting, during the height of the pandemic, the paper was named “2019 Citizen of Note.” The award is given each year by the Select Board to an outstanding Harvard citizen or organization.

The support by the community extends beyond subscriptions. The newspaper currently operates rent-free from the third floor of the General Store thanks to the generosity of the building’s owners, a reflection of how strongly the community values the paper’s presence in town.

During NENPA’s visit, one theme emerged repeatedly: The Harvard Press is not simply producing a newspaper — it is actively sustaining civic life in the community it serves.

📊 Snapshot

Founded: 2006
Location: Harvard, Massachusetts
Publication Type: Weekly community newspaper
Coverage Area: Harvard and surrounding regional issues impacting the town
Ownership Model: Independent / locally operated
Distribution: Paid subscription model reaching roughly two-thirds of local households
Editorial Focus: Hyperlocal news, town government, schools, features, community life, photography
Staff Structure: Small core staff supported by freelancers, hourly contributors, and community reporters

✍️ Editorial Approach

“We have three priorities,” Editor John Osborn explained during NENPA’s visit. “First is covering the news. Second is community building. Third is training.”

Approximately 99% of the paper’s coverage is focused specifically on Harvard itself. The newsroom intentionally avoids national coverage and only reports on regional or state issues when they directly affect the community.

Town meeting coverage remains one of the publication’s signature strengths.

Each year, The Harvard Press publishes detailed “warrant in plain English” explainers that translate complicated municipal language into accessible reporting residents can actually understand before voting.

“People come to the meeting with our paper,” Osborn said. “If they forgot it, they’ll ask for another copy so they can sit there and read the paper while they’re voting.”

The newsroom also works intentionally to balance hard news with features, photography, and community storytelling in every issue.

✅ What’s Working

Several strategies are helping The Harvard Press maintain strong community trust and support:

• Hyperlocal reporting focused almost entirely on Harvard
• Deep town meeting and civic coverage
• Strong photography and feature storytelling
• Community engagement events and reader surveys
• A highly successful sustaining subscriber program
• Community contributor and citizen journalist training
• Consistent weekly editorial planning and workflow systems

The newsroom also noted that readers consistently expressed strong trust in the publication during a recent audience survey that generated more than 200 responses.

“People really, really trust us and value us,” shared co-owner Sue Robbins.

💰 Revenue Model

The Harvard Press currently operates with revenue split roughly between advertising and circulation, supplemented by donations and fundraising initiatives.

One of the paper’s most successful efforts has been its sustaining subscriber program, where readers voluntarily pay approximately double the standard subscription rate to provide additional support for the newspaper.

“We have 400 sustaining subscribers,” explained Lisa Aciukewicz, publisher and co-owner. “We are so supported by this town.”

The newsroom also accepts donations through nonprofit partnership arrangements and recently joined the Report for America Accelerator program to help explore long-term sustainability strategies.

Online advertising is intentionally limited to local businesses in order to preserve the paper’s intensely local identity and reader experience.

“I think we realize the strength of our product is tied to how local we keep it,” Aciukewicz explained.

🤝 Community Engagement

Community engagement is deeply integrated into the newsroom’s culture.

The Harvard Press regularly:

• Co-sponsors election forums with the League of Women Voters
• Hosts “Coffee with the Editor” conversations
• Encourages reader letters and feedback
• Started conducting audience surveys in 2025
• Maintains a community advisory board
• Recruits and trains new contributors from within the community

Earlier this year, the newsroom launched a large recruitment campaign using postcards, banners, and community outreach to attract new contributors.

The effort brought approximately 30 residents to an initial information session.

“We got like 30 people at that first meeting,” Osborn recalled. “And then we whittle it down and train them.”

⚙️ Operations & Workflow

Despite its small size, the newsroom operates with highly structured systems and routines.

Every Thursday morning after the paper goes to print, staff gather for editorial and newsroom planning meetings to organize the next issue.

A shared Google Sheet tracks:

• Story assignments
• Photos
• Ad volume
• Deadlines
• Page budgets
• Production status

“We couldn’t do it without ‘the spreadsheet’,” joked managing editor, Valerie Hurley.

🎓 Training & Community Contributors

Training has become one of the newsroom’s defining priorities.

Because the paper operates with a small staff, The Harvard Press has built an internal pipeline for training community reporters and contributors.

Osborn has led workshops teaching residents how to interview, report, and write stories, while the newsroom has also worked extensively with local students interested in journalism.

Several former student participants have gone on to careers at major news organizations, including The Boston Globe and The New York Times.

The newsroom also developed programs like “Report for Harvard,” which paired local students with community members to produce stories highlighting unsung contributors throughout town.

⚠️ Challenges

Like many local news organizations, The Harvard Press faces ongoing sustainability and staffing challenges.

Leadership spoke candidly about:

• Retaining younger journalists
• Aging newsroom leadership
• Limited financial resources
• The difficulty of balancing journalism with personal financial realities
• The broader economics of local news

“It’s that broken economics of local journalism,” Aciukewicz said. “Somebody’s got to solve it.”

Staff also noted that many contributors dedicate far more time and energy to the paper than their compensation reflects.

🔍 What They’re Exploring

Current areas of experimentation and growth include:

• A major website redesign that will eventually introduce a paywall, digital subscriptions, and more frequent online updates.
• Expanded fundraising and nonprofit partnerships
• Report for America Accelerator participation
• Additional community contributor training
• Potential newsletter development
• More frequent digital publishing workflows

Leadership hopes these efforts will help strengthen long-term sustainability while maintaining the publication’s local focus and identity.

💡 Advice & Opportunities for Other Newsrooms

The Harvard Press shared several strategies other community newspapers may want to explore:

Sustaining Subscriber Programs

The newsroom strongly recommends offering readers an option to financially support local journalism beyond standard subscription pricing.

“If you’re not doing that, that is the lowest hanging fruit,” Aciukewicz said.

Town Meeting Coverage

The paper mails expanded town meeting coverage to every household — including non-subscribers — helping drive civic engagement, subscriptions, and advertising revenue.

Community Training

Building pipelines for local contributors and citizen journalists can help small newsrooms expand coverage while strengthening community ties.

Reader Surveys

The newsroom found audience surveys extremely valuable for understanding reader priorities and building trust.

🏆 NENPA Recognition

The Harvard Press’s commitment to local journalism was recognized in the 2025 New England Better Newspaper Competition, where the newsroom earned multiple awards across opinion writing, public service reporting, photography, and overall excellence.

The paper received First Place for General Excellence, one of the competition’s highest honors, recognizing the overall quality of the publication. The newsroom also earned First Place for Invisible Hunger: How Loaves & Fishes is Feeding Families in Need by Julie Gowel and First Place for Heidi Gomez’s commentary, Dissed-abled: Wheelchair Users Need Equality of Access and Opportunity, which judges praised as “a real public service.”

Coverage of the closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center earned Second Place, with judges noting the series documented not only the loss of a community hospital but the broader impact on residents, emergency services, and regional health care access. The paper also received Second Place for Jen Manell’s photograph Booksale.

For the staff, awards serve as more than recognition—they validate the work of a small newsroom committed to serving its community.

For the staff, the recognition serves as both validation and motivation.

“We can’t pay people what larger organizations can,” Aciukewicz explained. “So for them to win an award is huge.”

The awards also reinforce community trust and credibility within the town.

⭐ Best Quote

“We have three priorities: covering the news, community building, and training.”
— John Osborn, Editor, The Harvard Press

The Boston Globe is now administering the annual Will McDonough Sports Writing Contest, a long-running New England competition previously managed by The Sports Museum for more than 20 years. The contest is free to enter and open to high school students in grades 9–12 throughout New England.

Students are invited to submit one original piece of sports writing. Entries will be judged on writing quality, reporting, use of journalism principles, and the ability to engage readers with sports as a central element of the story.

To participate, a parent or guardian (18+) must first complete the required information form before students email their submission.

The deadline to enter is May 27, 2026. Winners will be announced on June 9, 2026.

• Have an adult (18+) fill out this info form HERE
• Email their entry to McDonoughcontest@globe.com (One entry per person)

The New England Newspaper & Press Association has officially launched its new Freelancer Network, a developing initiative designed to help connect NENPA member publishers with freelance journalists, writers, photographers, designers, and other newsroom professionals across New England.

The project was created in response to ongoing staffing challenges, changing newsroom needs, and growing interest from freelance journalists looking to build stronger relationships with local and regional news organizations. Over the past several weeks, freelancers from across the region have submitted information through NENPA’s intake form, creating an internal database that includes reporting specialties, geographic coverage areas, experience levels, and work samples.

NENPA member publishers can now begin submitting freelancer requests directly to the association. Publishers can request recommendations based on specific newsroom needs, including coverage areas, beats, content production, photography, design, audience engagement, copy editing, and other freelance support.

Rather than operating as a public directory, the service is designed as a managed matching network. NENPA staff will review requests and provide curated freelancer recommendations based on the needs of each publication.

The initiative is intended to support both immediate assignment needs and longer-term newsroom relationships, while also helping freelance journalists gain greater visibility within New England’s local news ecosystem.

Freelancers interested in joining the network can still complete the intake form, and publishers are encouraged to reach out as staffing or project needs arise.

The New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA) will officially launch the NENPA Freelancer Network on May 15 as a new member benefit designed to help connect freelance journalists with publishers and news organizations across New England.

The NENPA Freelancer Network is being developed as a centralized freelancer database that will allow NENPA to help facilitate connections between member news organizations and freelance journalists seeking paid assignments, ongoing newsroom relationships, and opportunities to expand the reach of their work.

Freelance journalists, independent writers, photographers, newsletter creators, and other newsroom professionals are encouraged to complete the NENPA Freelancer Intake Form ahead of the launch. The intake form gathers information about coverage areas, experience, availability, formats, rates, and assignment interests to help NENPA make informed matches between freelancers and participating news organizations.

The network is intended to support a wide range of newsroom needs, including reporting, photography, newsletter support, feature writing, investigative projects, and other editorial work. Freelancers who complete the intake form may be contacted by editors, publishers, or hiring managers from participating news organizations across the region.

NENPA is also continuing to gather input from publishers and newsroom leaders about current coverage needs, staffing gaps, and areas where freelance support may be beneficial.

The intake form also includes optional questions related to a potential shared publishing model that could help freelancers distribute recurring content, columns, newsletters, and other work across multiple news organizations.

While NENPA will work to facilitate meaningful connections between freelancers and publishers, participation in the network does not guarantee assignments or employment opportunities.

Freelancers can complete the Freelancer Intake Form here: https://forms.gle/jZ6qBAHEHucyS9uT6

Publishers can share newsroom needs here: https://forms.gle/ob2xXDhsdHd6Spqh7

After seven years of collaboration, GBH and New England Public Media are planning to formally merge by the summer of 2026, creating a statewide media organization expected to reach more than 1.3 million people across Massachusetts every week.

“This is all about preserving local news,” GBH President and CEO Susan Goldberg said in an interview. “So at a time when local news is endangered coast to coast, at a time when more than $1.1 billion has been taken away from local public media, what we’re doing by this is figuring out: How do we be as efficient as we can to make sure we preserve the most important things … we do? And local news, in terms of a forward- facing operation, is one of the most important things we do.

“This is about, How do we make sure those great stories in western Massachusetts have more scale and have more audience and can be seen by more people across the state?” Goldberg added. “The same is true with WCAI.”

New England Public Media, or NEPM, was created in 2019 as an affiliation between three entities: the GBH-owned television station WGBY; New England Public Radio, which was operating the station WFCR in Springfield for the University of Massachusetts; and UMass.

GBH technically took ownership of NEPM, but NEPM was constituted as its own nonprofit with its own fiduciary board and largely operated independently, even as GBH ran its human resources and finance operations.

Now, Goldberg said, the merger will result in even more collaboration in areas like sponsorships and public events, as well as cost-saving efficiencies stemming from consolidation. For example, NEPM and GBH will now be audited together rather than separately, and will file taxes as one entity rather than two. According to Goldberg, the merger could also result in a net reduction in member fees paid to PBS and NPR for national programming.

Read more

The Concord Bridge has quickly established itself as a vital source of local news, filling a critical gap in what had become a news desert. With a clear mission and a disciplined approach to coverage, the newsroom has focused on delivering consistent, community-centered journalism while building meaningful connections with its audience.

Launched with the goal of restoring reliable local reporting, the Bridge has leaned into a simple but powerful idea: cover the community deeply, consistently, and with purpose. That focus has helped the publication gain traction in a relatively short period of time, proving that even in challenging environments, there is strong demand for trustworthy local news.

A key part of that success has been the newsroom’s ability to identify stories that matter—and to stay with them. One example is its reporting on local shelter conditions, which began as a routine inquiry but evolved into a deeper investigation with real community impact. By following the story beyond the initial headline and continuing to ask questions, the newsroom demonstrated the kind of accountability journalism that builds credibility and trust.

The Bridge has also shown a willingness to experiment with how it delivers news. During local elections, the team introduced live blogging as a way to provide real-time updates and keep readers engaged throughout the day. The approach not only increased audience interaction but also created a more dynamic, responsive news experience—one that met readers where they were and how they consume information today.

Underlying all of this is a strong connection to the community. The newsroom’s work reflects a clear understanding of its audience and a commitment to serving their needs—whether through daily reporting, deeper enterprise stories, or new formats designed to increase accessibility and engagement.

Through smart editorial strategy, thoughtful audience engagement, and a willingness to adapt, the Concord Bridge has created a model that offers valuable lessons for other newsrooms navigating similar challenges. That work has not gone unnoticed. They have earned numerous awards already, but the real measure of success is the publication’s impact: restoring access to reliable local reporting and strengthening the connection between a community and its news.

📊 Snapshot

Publication Name: The Concord Bridge
Location: Concord, MA
Website: concordbridge.org
Founded: 2022
Leadership: Maile Hulihan, CEO, Celeste Katz Marston, Editor-in-Chief
Model: Nonprofit
Type: Free weekly print + daily digital publication
Frequency: Weekly (web updated daily)
Distribution: Free to ~8,700 households and businesses
Staff Size: Under 10, cross-trained team
Mission: A nonpartisan, nonprofit newspaper of record serving the Concord community

“We’re a weekly newspaper that acts like a daily.” – Celeste Katz Marston

🧭 Editorial Approach

The Concord Bridge is intentionally hyperlocal—focusing on the issues that directly impact residents.

Key focus areas:

• Local government and accountability reporting
• Schools and education
• High school sports and community life
• Major town events and civic issues

Notably not covered:

• National politics (except when there is a direct local impact)

🎯 What’s Working

• Live coverage of town meetings and major events
• Strong visual storytelling and design
• Highly engaged letters to the editor section
• Community contributors, including student correspondents

💰 Revenue Model

• ~60% donor-supported
• Advertising, obituaries, and legal notices
• Custom publishing
• Sponsorship

🎨 Visual & Audience Strategy

• Heavy use of photography and thoughtful layout
• Photo essays and strong front-page visuals
• Social media engagement driven by imagery

🤝 Community Engagement

• Active social media interaction
• Community events and presentations
• Direct outreach (including phone calls with readers)

🧨 Impact Journalism

• Shelter investigation → halted unsafe placements
• Election coverage → increased turnout
• Consistent coverage of difficult, high-impact issues

⚙️ Operations & Workflow

• Small, collaborative, cross-trained team
• Structured editorial workflow and regular news meetings in office
• Tools: Slack, Google Drive, social platforms

🚧 Challenges

• Scaling with a small team
• Building sustainable revenue
• Managing high expectations

What we’re exploring

• Events
• Membership
• Merchandising

💡 Advice & Opportunities

• • Try this: Invest in visuals, design, and live blogging capabilities; it drives engagement.
  • Avoid this: Trying to cover everything.
  • Big opportunity: Events and further developing a member model for community-supported local news.

🏆 NENPA Recognition

The Concord Bridge’s work has also been recognized across the region, earning multiple honors in the 2025 New England Better Newspaper Competition, along with top awards in the fall.

At the 2025 Fall Awards Program, CEO Maile Hulihan was honored with the Cornerstone Award, recognizing her leadership and contributions to local journalism, and The Concord Bridge won a Publick Occurrences Award for “Milestone 250.”

In the Better Newspaper Competition, The Concord Bridge received multiple First Place awards, including:

• Our First Small-Donor Fundraising Campaign (Staff & Board)
• Fire! (Photography, Ken McGagh)
• A Patriot’s Day (Rob Reinalda)
• ‘Minute Man’ marks 150th birthday… (Laurie O’Neill)
• Milestone 250 LIVE (Staff)
• On Walden Pond (Ken McGagh)

Additional honors included:

• Second Place: Concord Election 2025 (Dakota Antelman), One if by lamb… (Rob Reinalda), Time Outdoors (Wilson Kerr)
• Third Place: Emergency Shelter Conditions (Dakota Antelman), Patriots Day 2025 (Ken McGagh), ‘He’s experienced our lives with us’ (Margaret Carroll-Bergman)

Judges highlighted the newsroom’s persistent reporting, strong visual storytelling, and ability to drive real community impact—particularly in coverage that prompted action and helped inform voters during a contentious local election.

⭐ Best Quote

“We talk a lot about revealing Concord to itself because we’re not shying away from things that are different from how people would like it to be.” – Maile Hulihan

Want your newsroom to be featured? Contact us to be “In the Spotlight.”