In its first foray into journalism competitions, the Granby Drummer came away with a number of honors from the Connecticut Press Club’s 2020 Communications Contest. The contest is held annually and spans a variety of categories—e.g., news writing, specialty articles, speeches, columns, personality profiles, photo essays, books, and more.
First place wins:
Columns – General: Carol Laun for Historical Footnotes
Specialty Articles – Sports: Mark Fiorentino for Doris, an article on Fiorentino’s fishing reel
Publication regularly edited by entrant – non-profit, government, or educational category: Rita Isaacson, Christie Levandowski and Amanda Lindberg for the September 2020 issue of the Drummer
Second place win:
Columns – Humorous: Mark Fiorentino, for Waypoints
Honorable Mentions:
Feature story – Other Publication: Faith Tyldsley, for Preserving His Heritage: Michael Guarco in the Kitchen
Personality Profile – More than 500 words: Faith Tyldsley, for Jennifer Abalan: a Voice for the Voiceless
“The Connecticut Press Club’s annual awards contest honors some of the state’s most accomplished journalists, writers, editors, and other communications professionals,” said Connecticut Press Club President Michele Turk. “The submissions for this year’s event were very strong, and the judges did a commendable job in identifying and rewarding the outstanding work.”
The Club will salute the winners at an awards ceremony later this year.
Founded in the 1970s, the Connecticut Press Club is an affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) and includes both male and female members. First-place winners in the statewide contest are also eligible for awards in the nationwide contest sponsored by the NFPW.
Kathy Norris, chair of Citizens for a Better Granby, publisher of the Drummer, said, “We’re thrilled the editors and several writers received statewide recognition for excellence in journalism. We thank them and all our volunteers who continually publish a high quality community newspaper.”