The New York Press Association honored Dan’s Papers and its real estate-focused sister paper Behind The Hedges with awards for editorial excellence during the trade group’s annual Better Newspaper Contest last weekend.
Behind The Hedges Editor in Chief Taylor K. Vecsey won first place for Best Real Estate/Home section and DansPapers.com Managing Editor Oliver Peterson won first place in the highly competitive Feature Story category. Dan’s Papers also won a pair of honorable mentions, one of which was in the coveted Thomas G. Butson Award for Investigative In-Depth Reporting category.
“Excellent design and typography, beautiful photos, top shelf paper quality — plus excellent editorial content and not too many ads,” the judges wrote about Behind The Hedges magazines. “Very reader centric. I held it to a super high standard, because there are obviously a lot of resources and revenue available — but jeepers. This is absolutely stunning and stands above in a really tough group.”
The judges similarly heaped praise upon Dan’s Papers for its overall quality.
“At times, a story grabs your attention and this one does,” the judge’s wrote of Peterson’s feature titled ‘Wings Over Haiti Hamptons Event Benefits New School.’ “If you want good writing, originality, style, and human interest, the story has all of them. Several people involved and some excellent quotes that portray the sources’ feeling. The pilot got involved when he went to Haiti and has remained involved. What the pilot saw was brutal, such as a carpentry saw for amputations. He got so busy he suddenly realized he had not changed shirts for 17 days. He got others interested and a new school is being built. You’ll be glad to read the story; I was.”
Dan’s Papers Editor in Chief Timothy Bolger got the honorable mention in the investigative category for his story, ‘Who Are The Hamptons John Does?’
“Wow. A thoughtful exploration on the East End of Long Island’s unique relationship with missing persons, and deadly remains,” the judges wrote. “Bolger relied on statistics, established context (NamUs, etc.) and then detailed the people and details (even articles of clothing, brands, etc.) of the human lives behind their remains. Well done.”
Rounding out the awards was an honorable mention in the category for Coverage of Health, Healthcare & Science, which Bolger won with writer Jennifer Corr for stories on special needs group homes and COVID-19.
“The stories on disability staffing and masks in schools were especially strong,” the judges wrote. “Holiday resurgence was also quite good. Stories are well sourced … very solid reporting and writing. Great work.”
The awards were among 36 won by Schneps Media, the parent company of Dan’s Papersand Behind The Hedges. The company won the second most points of any participating newspaper chain in New York State.
