Seven Days Wins 30 Vermont Press Association Awards

December 1, 2017 — Burlington, Vt. — Seven Days picked up 30 journalism awards, including 13 first-place prizes, at the Vermont Press Association’s annual meeting Thursday in Montpelier.

VPA officials handed out awards for two separate contests — one covering July 2015 through June 2016 and one covering July 2016 through June 2017 — at the gathering, held at the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Conference Center. The VPA includes 11 daily newspapers and four dozen non-dailies.

Seven Days, Vermont’s free, independent newsweekly, won recognition in categories ranging from news to arts to photography, competing in the non-daily division. It earned the top prize, “Best of Vermont, General Excellence,” in the 2016-2017 contest.

The paper’s arts staff — including assistant editor Dan Bolles, music editor Jordan Adams, staff writer Rachel Elizabeth Jones and contributing writer Alex Brown — swept the “John D. Donoghue Award for Arts Criticism,” winning first, second and third place in both contest years. Adams was also named “Rookie of the Year” for 2016-2017.

Seven Days’ news team won top honors for “Best State Story” (political editor Paul Heintz) and “Best Local Story” (staff writer Molly Walsh). The VPA handed staff writer Alicia Freese its 2016-2017 “Mavis Doyle Award,” which recognizes a reporter’s “aggressiveness, determination, compassion, commitment to journalism, dedication to social justice, and unwavering belief that journalism should be the watchdog of the government and the voice of the people.” (Staff writer Katie Jickling won “Best Local Story” in the 2015-2016 contest for work she did at the Herald of Randolph.)

Seven Days also picked up three first-place awards in the columnist categories: Heintz for “Political/Hard News” and Bolles and staff writer Ken Picard for “Features/Lifestyle/Humor.”

Staff photographer Matthew Thorsen won first-place in the “General News Photo” category, while multimedia journalist James Buck won first for “Sports Photo.”

“We’re honored that the judges recognized Seven Days for both news and arts writing, and for distinctive photography,” said publisher Paula Routly. “And we’re grateful to our readers and advertisers for supporting a locally owned media company. If you enjoy Seven Days’ high-quality local journalism, thank our advertisers for making it possible. Most of them are small, locally owned businesses just like us.

“Lastly, we’re proud to be part of the VPA, whose members work tirelessly to provide essential coverage to their communities,” said Routly. “Vermonters are very fortunate to have so many great local newspapers.”

Da Capo Publishing Inc., dba Seven Days, was founded by Pamela Polston and Paula Routly in 1995, and is now owned by Polston and Routly, as well as associate publishers Don Eggert, Cathy Resmer and Colby Roberts. In addition to its seven free publications, the Burlington-based company also produces several annual events, the Stuck in Vermont video series and hosts a ticketing website, job board and dating service. Its editorial staff has received numerous journalism awards from entities including the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the Parenting Media Association, the Vermont Press Association and the New England Newspaper and Press Association, which in 2017 named Seven Days the best large-circulation newsweekly in the region.

A full list of Seven Days’ VPA awards follows:
Best of Vermont, General Excellence (non-daily):

2015-2016:
2nd place: Seven Days

2016-2017:
1st place: Seven Days

Outstanding Website (non-daily):

2016-2017:
1st place: Seven Days

Mavis Doyle Award (all newspapers):

2015-2016:
Honorable mention: Mark Davis

2016-2017:
1st place: Alicia Freese

Rookie of the Year (all newspapers):

2015-2016:
2nd place: Kymelya Sari

2016-2017:
1st place: Jordan Adams

Best State Story (non-daily):

2015-2016:
1st place: Paul Heintz
3rd place: Mark Davis

2016-2017:
2nd place: Mark Davis
Honorable mention: Paul Heintz

Best Local Story (non-daily):

2015-2016:
2nd place: Mark Davis
Honorable mention: Alicia Freese

2016-2017:
1st place: Molly Walsh

John Donoghue Award for Arts Criticism (all newspapers):

2015-2016:
1st place: Dan Bolles
2nd place: Alex Brown
3rd place: Rachel Elizabeth Jones

2016-2017:
1st place: Rachel Elizabeth Jones
2nd place: Jordan Adams
3rd place: Dan Bolles

Column Writing — Features/Lifestyle/Humor (non-daily):

2015-2016:
1st place: Dan Bolles

2016-2017:
1st place: Ken Picard
3rd place: Dan Bolles

Column Writing — Political/Hard News (non-daily):

2016-2017:
1st place: Paul Heintz
2nd place: John Walters
3rd place: Paul Heintz

General News Photo (non-daily):

2015-2016:
1st place: Matthew Thorsen
3rd place: Matthew Thorsen

Feature Photo (non-daily):

2015-2016:
2nd place: Matthew Thorsen

Sports Photo (non-daily):

2015-2016:
1st place: James Buck