For the second year in a row, the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript received the first-place award for General Excellence for its class from the New Hampshire Press Association, along with five individual awards.
“I’m incredibly proud of our team and the good work we do. It’s an honor to be recognized by our peers and to win the General Excellence award again,” publisher Heather McKernan said.
During an awards ceremony on Thursday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, Ledger-Transcript staff took home the General Excellence award, and reporters Ashley Saari and Rowan Wilson received accolades in both photography and reporting categories.
“First of all, congratulations to Ashley and Rowan for their awards,” Ledger-Transcript editor Bill Fonda said. “I’m very happy for them, and also for winning the General Excellence award as a testament to the hard work everyone does putting out two quality newspapers each week.”
Saari took home first place for feature photography, for “Children and Science,” for a photograph of the Wilton Collaborative Space’s Science Club experimenting with the results of vinegar and baking soda. She received second place for general news photography for “A Solemn Spark,” for a photo of the flag-retirement ceremony held annually by the Peterborough American Legion.
In reporting, Saari received second place for political reporting for her story “State reps who voted for secession are re-elected,” covering the re-election of Cheshire 18’s Matthew Santonastaso and Hillsborough 32’s Diane Kelley, who were two of 13 members of the House who voted in the previous session for New Hampshire to secede from the United States. She received third place for arts and entertainment reporting for “Wilton filmmaker premiers film on creation of quilts with George Floyd’s final words,” on the creation of the documentary “Stitch, Breathe, Speak: The George Floyd Quilts.”
Wilson received third place for environmental reporting for her story “From living sustainably to helping amphibians cross the road,” for coverage of the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock’s salamander crossing brigade.