Four New England journalists will receive the Yankee Quill award this fall for their career contributions to the betterment of journalism in the six-state region. The founder of a newspaper that operated atop Mount Washington from 1831 to 1899 will be posthumously honored as well.

The 2018 honorees are David Randall Moats, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorialist and former editorial page editor of the Rutland (Vermont) Herald; Wayne Phaneuf, executive editor of the Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; Ken Squier, sportscaster and former longtime owner of the Radio Vermont Group of four local radio stations; and Lou Ureneck, professor of journalism at Boston University and former editor of the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram.

In addition, the Academy of New England Journalists awarded its historic figure Yankee Quill to Henry Martyn Burt, the founder, publisher and editor of the 19th century newspaper Among the Clouds,  published at the summit of Mount Washington. Burt was once jailed by a sheriff for criminal libel for accusing the proprietor of a popular mountain hotel of overcharging to remove the body of a young boy killed in the collapse of a snow arch. Burt also founded the Massachusetts-based New England Homestead, an important farm newspaper, and the Northampton Free Press, a champion of the anti-slavery movement.

The Yankee Quill is presented annually by the Academy of New England Journalists through the auspices of the New England Society of News Editors. It is considered the highest individual honor awarded by fellow journalists in the region. Selection for the award is not based on any single achievement but rather on the broad influence for good in serving the public welfare over the course of a career.

The Yankee Quill awards will be presented as part of the annual conferences of the New England Society of News Editors and the New England Newspaper and Press Association on the evening of Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Natick, Mass.

This year’s honorees

Contact:
Bill Ketter, chairman, Academy of New England Journalists, (978) 946-2233 wketter@cnhi.com 
George Geers, clerk, Academy of New England Journalists, (603) 785-4811 gnews@empire.net