The New York Press Association honored the Long Island Press with awards for its coverage of local news in the trade group’s annual Better Newspaper Contest ceremony.
Press business reporter Claude Solnik won first place in the news category for his story about local water filtration sales representatives taking advantage of the public’s fears about the quality of drinking water on Long Island.
“Does good job of explaining the sales pitch for filtration systems and the perspective of water purveyors,” the judges wrote in their notes on Solnik’s story, “Water Worries: Companies Selling Costly Filters Target Long Island.”
That story also got an honorable mention in the investigative journalism category, the Thomas G. Butson Award for In-Depth Reporting.
Editor-In-Chief Timothy Bolger placed third for his coverage of local government. Three stories were submitted in a package in this category: “Suffolk Police Nepotism Allegation Draws Scrutiny,” which covered a little-reported Suffolk scandal; an in-depth story on the Hempstead school crisis headlined “Hempstead School Crisis Persists While Garden City Flourishes;” and a piece contextualizing a controversial storm mitigation plan titled “Will Giant Sea Gates Off Long Island Stop Flooding From The Next Sandy?”
“You give deep context on tough topics without also drowning readers in detail,” the judges wrote. “The writing and presentation are engaging.”
The awards were three of 18 won by some of the Press‘ sister newspapers in the Schneps Media news group. The awards ceremony is normally held each spring at the trade group’s annual convention in upstate New York, but the event was canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, prompting the awards to be announced virtually.
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