Daily Sun reporting earns top honors at New England news competition

The Laconia Daily Sun's Roberta Baker was among journalists representing the Granite State News Collaborative, who took top honors for its collective coverage of the pandemic at the 2021 New England Better Newspaper Competition.

Baker earned four awards: Best Coverage of Coronavirus for "Nursing home social life during COVID"; Business/Economic Reporting for "How to find New Hampshire's real estate bargains"; Health Reporting for "Nursing assistant shortage worsened by COVID"; and Social Issues Feature Story for "Outside all winter."

The Collaborative also earned first place in education reporting for its Remote Learning Progress Report.

In March of 2020, Collaborative partners unanimously agreed to cover the pandemic together. This meant each outlet could leverage the resources of fellow journalists at a time when information was ever changing and evolving.

In just the first 10 months of the pandemic, the partners cross-published more than 1,700 stories, of which Collaborative freelancers produced more than 400.

“These were stories and information that our communities wouldn’t have had otherwise if the partners hadn’t agreed to work together,” said Collaborative director Melanie Plenda. “When they needed us most, we came together to do right by the people we serve.”

The partners were also recognized last month by Franklin Pierce University with a public service award, also conferred for their collective work during the pandemic.

Other Collaborative projects placed in several categories, including Best Solutions Journalism Project, Crime and Courts Reporting, and Racial, Ethnic, or Gender Issue Coverage.  

The awards were presented April 29, as part of the New England Newspaper & Press Association's New England Newspaper Convention, which took place at the Boston Renaissance Waterfront Hotel.

NENPA, a professional trade organization for newspapers in the six New England states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island, represents and serve more than 450 daily, weekly and specialty newspapers throughout the region.

Partners in The Granite State News Collaborative include 603 Diversity, The Berlin Sun, Business NH Magazine, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, The Concord Monitor, The Conway Daily Sun, The Eagle Times, The Eagle-Tribune, The Keene Sentinel, The Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, The Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University, The Nashua Telegraph, NH Bar News, NH Business Review, New Hampshire Press Association, New Hampshire PBS, New Hampshire Public Radio, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Seacoast Media Group and The Valley News. Content producing community partners include Citizens Count and NH Fiscal Policy Institute.

Editor's note: This story was edited to include all awards earned by Roberta Baker at the competition.