Daily Gazette wins seven awards at NYPA conference

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Central Bridge firefighters embrace one another during a vigil for the victims of the Schoharie limo crash.

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The Daily Gazette won seven awards at this past weekend’s annual gathering of the New York Press Association.

The conference, held at the Albany Hilton, attracted newspaper reporters, photographers, editors, advertising reps and managers from all over the state. Awards were given in several different divisions.

The Gazette won the following awards:

* First place in the special sections category for “Outlook ’18,” the annual comprehensive look at business in the Capital Region.

* First place best news website.

* Second place for sportswriter of the year, Michael Kelly. Kelly is The Gazette’s sports editor and covers collegiate sports.

* Second place for sports feature. Jim Schiltz for a story about former Schenectady High School coach Gary DiNola that appeared in the newspaper’s “Pride of Schenectady” section.

* Third place for sports feature, Mike MacAdam, for a story about Union College hockey player Jack Adams dealing with a family tragedy.

* Third place for spot news photo, Peter R. Barber, for a photo of Schoharie limo vigils with EMS personnel, community.

* Honorable mention for web editor Kathryn Hume’s graphic illustration of Glens Falls basketball star Joseph Girard III.

Pete DeMola, who recently joined The Gazette, won two awards for stories that appeared in his former newspapers. DeMola won the Sharon R. Fulmer Award for Community Leadership for an editorial written for The Valley News Sun, which covers Adirondack communities.

DeMola also won honorable mention for best news or feature series for pieces that appeared in the The Burgh-North Countryman Sun in Plattsburgh.

“The NYPA awards are always gratifying because they’re voted on by our peers in the journalism business,” said Daily Gazette Editor Miles Reed.

Reed praised the newspaper’s website team.

“This first-place award is recognition of the hard work on the website that’s been in progress over the past three or four years now,” he said. “Our former digital team, along with an outside contractor, did a great job in building the new site from the ground up and our current digital team of Steve Cook and Kathryn Hume has done a fantastic job of taking the site to new levels.”

Reed also talked about The Gazette’s “Outlook” section and sports personnel.

“We take great pride in our day-in-and-day-out business coverage and that mindset continues over to our annual ‘Outlook’ section,” he said. “Every year we dig deep to find compelling stories about the women and men who really make the local business world go.”

Reed believes experience is a strength in The Gazette’s sports department.

“Our sports staff is second to none in its coverage of local sports,” he said. “Nobody knows the local sporting landscape better than Mike Kelly, Jim Schiltz and Mike MacAdam. We’re so lucky to have them.”

Reed believes photographer Barber is another Gazette asset.

“Peter is one of the best spot news photographers in the business,” Reed said. “His coverage of the Schoharie limo crash was exemplary as usual, starting with his gripping shots from the scene on through to his dramatic photos from the memorials.”