NJ Advance Media/The Star-Ledger won the General Excellence honor in the 2023 New Jersey Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, taking home a total of 73 awards in editorial, advertising and photography categories at the group’s annual ceremony Thursday.
It is the third year in a row NJ Advance Media/The Star-Ledger took home the General Excellence award.
For the journalism competition, The Star-Ledger competes in the New Jersey Press Association’s larger circulation division. Its sister publications, lehighvalleylive.com/The Express-Times, compete in the smaller circulation division.
“What impresses me most about our performance this contest year is the range of categories in which we were judged the best. From Public Service to First Amendment, from Enterprise to Sports Writing, our team demonstrated a standard that separated us from our peers, whom we respect immensely,” said Ronnie Agnew, NJ Advance Media’s General Manager.
“Our No. 1 objective is to serve our audience. It is gratifying, however, to be recognized in such a significant way by the judges,” Agnew said.
NJ Advance Media was formed in 2014 to provide content, sales and marketing for The Star-Ledger, NJ.com and other daily and weekly newspapers in the state. Since then, the company has won hundreds of NJPA awards.
NJ Advance Media and lehighvalleylive.com/The Express-Times won 28 first-place awards at the 2023 contest in the editorial, sales, advertising and marketing categories. (See the full list of awards below.)
In the journalism contest, The Star-Ledger racked up 14 first-place prizes. In the smaller circulation division, its sister publications, lehighvalleylive.com/The Express-Times, took home eight awards in the photography categories.
“It’s tremendously gratifying to earn recognition for the extraordinary range of work we produce, from traditional investigative stories like Rebecca Everett’s ‘When Tasers Fail,’ to projects that are on the vanguard of digital media, such as Matthew Stanmyre’s narrative podcast, ‘Lights Out,’” said Christopher Kelly, Vice President of Content for NJ Advance Media.
“I could not be prouder of this group of journalists that works tirelessly to inform, enlighten and engage the people of New Jersey, and to hold the state’s political leaders and power brokers to account,” Kelly said.
For the first time since 2015, NJ.com placed first in each of the three top journalism categories. “Portraits of a Crisis” — reporter Adam Clark’s portfolio of teen mental health stories that shined a light on the experiences of young people during an alarming mental health epidemic — received first place in the Public Service category.
Reporters Riley Yates and Steve Strunksy placed first in the First Amendment category for their portfolio on excessive municipal payouts. Their award-winning stories included investigative reports on retirement payouts, elected officials accepting questionable benefits, and police misconduct settlements.
Everett — who previously won Best Audio Portfolio in 2022 for NJ.com’s first venture into narrative podcasting, ‘Father Wants Us Dead’ — earned first place in the Enterprise category for her report on the efficacy of tasers.
And, Saed Hindash brought home eight individual awards for his photography at lehighvalleylive.com/The Express-Times, including fivefirst place prizes.
NJ Advance Media’s advertising and creative team won 22 NJPA awards for creative excellence, including nine first place awards, eight second place awards and five third place awards. The advertising contest celebrates outstanding work in design for digital and print promotions, marketing, and content sections.
Four first-place advertising awards were bestowed to NJ.com and five were awarded to The Star-Ledger, including for promotions of Mosaic.nj.com, the company’s newest website devoted to serving diverse communities.
“Each day, our advertising and creative teams are focused on helping businesses reach their goals through exceptional strategy and messaging,” said NJ Advance Media Vice President of Marketing Michele Hayes. “We’re so proud of the talent, and dedication to excellence, that our reps, writers and designers bring to the table in service of our clients, and we congratulate the teams on these NJPA honors.”
The Star-Ledger/NJ.com awards won at 2023 NJPAs:
First place:
Public Service - Lloyd P. Burns Memorial Award - Adam Clark - “Portraits of a Crisis” portfolio
First Amendment - Art Weissman Memorial Award - Riley Yates and Steve Strunsky - Municipal payouts portfolio
Enterprise - Rebecca Everett -“When Tasers Fail”
Specialty Writing Portfolio - Karin Price Mueller
Lifestyle and Entertainment Writing Portfolio - Peter Genovese
Sports Writing Portfolio - Kevin Armstrong
Sports Column - Steve Politi
Scholastic Sports Writing Portfolio - Jake Aferiat
Editorial Comment - Dave D’Alessandro
Audio Portfolio - Matt Stanmyre -“Lights Out”
Photo Portfolio - Andy Mills
Feature Picture Story - Andy Mills - “Fourth of July from the Sky”
Sports Action photo - Andy Mills - “End Zone”
Sports Feature Picture Story - Scott Faytok - “High School Hockey at Fenway”
Second place:
First Amendment - Art Weissman Memorial Award - Riley Yates, Kevin Shea, S.P. Sullivan, Deion Johnson - “N.J. promised to change how it probes police shootings. Critics say it isn’t working.”
Enterprise Reporting - Spencer Kent - “The Stranger in the Mirror”
News Writing Portfolio - Spencer Kent
Lifestyle and Entertainment Writing Portfolio - Karim Shamsi-Basha
Business Writing Portfolio - Derek Hall
Sports Writing Portfolio - Steve Politi
Scholastic Sports Writing Portfolio - Joe Zedalis
First Year Journalist - Corey Annan
Best Headlines - Phil Cornell
Online Breaking News - Staff - “Menendez indictment”
Audio Portfolio - Steve Politi, Brian Fonseca, Patrick Lanni, - “Rutgers Rant”
Sports Action Photo - Chris Faytok - “High jump champ”
Sports Feature Photo - Andy Mills - “State Championship celebration”
Sports Feature Picture Story - Chris Faytok - “State Wrestling Championships in Atlantic City”
Third place:
Public Service - Lloyd P. Burns Memorial Award - Ted Sherman -“Fire at the Port”
News Writing Portfolio - Keith Sargeant
Government Writing Portfolio - S.P. Sullivan
Business Writing Portfolio - Jelani Gibson
Critical Writing - Jeremy Schneider
News Column - Paul Mulshine
Sports Writing Portfolio - Darryl Slater
Sports Column - Bob Klapisch
Scholastic Sports Writing Portfolio - Steve Politi
Online Breaking News - Staff - “Sayreville councilwoman shooting”
Video Portfolio - Dwayne Uzoaru
Web Project - Staff - “The Stranger in the Mirror”
Feature Photo - Julian Leshay - “Morris Count 9/11 Memorial”
Sports Action Photo - Andy Mills - “Finish Line”
Sports Feature Photo - Andy Mills - “Rutgers Wins”
Lehigh Valley Live/The Express-Times:
First place:
Best Portfolio - Saed Hindash
Sports Action - Saed Hindash - “Off the draw”
General News - Saed Hindash - “Water break”
Sports Feature - Saed Hindash - “Proud coach”
Feature - Saed Hindash - “Ride on”
Second place:
Feature - Saed Hindash - “Flippin’ graduate”
Third place:
Sports Action - Saed Hindash - “Dirty place”
Portrait - Saed Hindash - “Track-and-field athlete”
Advertising Awards:
The Star-Ledger
First place:
Best Home & Garden Ad – Alaa Selim, Joseph Miles
Best Newspaper Promotion/House Ad – Robert Morgia
Best External Promotion Piece/Media Kit – Robert Morgia
Best Healthcare Ad – Melissa Chin, Julie Williams
Best Special Section – Creative Team, Direct Marketing Team
Second place:
Best Newspaper Promotion/House Ad – Angela Perilla
Best External Promotion Piece/Media Kit – Angela Perilla
Best Healthcare Ad – Melissa Chin, Julie Williams
Third place:
Best Special Section – Angela Perilla, Direct Marketing Team
Best Special Topic Page(s) – NJ Advance Media Staff
Best Classified House Ad – Robert Morgia, Jacquelyn Gawron
First place:
Best Digital Impact Ad – Alaa Selim, Sean O’Donnell
Best Digital Standard Unit Ad – Alaa Selim
Best Digital House Ad – Angela Perilla
Best Rich Media Creative – Melissa Chin, Jennifer Clark
Second place:
Best Digital Impact Ad – Melissa Chin, Daniel Schaefer
Best Digital Standard Unit Ad – Alaa Selim, Alli Coleman
Best Digital House Ad – Robert Morgia
Best Rich Media Creative – Melissa Chin, Alli Coleman
Third place:
Best Digital Impact Ad – Melissa Chin, Kevin Nash
Best Rich Media Creative – Alaa Selim, Kara Scandaglia
The Times of Trenton:
Second place:
Best Community Service or Shared Ad – Robert Morgia
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