Winning for overall design, headlines, editorial page, photography and more, the Villager took home eight awards in the New York Press Association’s 2013 Better Newspaper Contest.
One hundred fifty-eight newspapers — mostly community weeklies — from around New York State submitted entries for the contest, which this year was judged by members of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
Last year, Jennifer Goodstein, who became The Villager’s publisher in August 2012, spearheaded an ambitious redesign of the newspaper. Updating the look of a classic paper like The Villager, which was founded in 1933, was no small undertaking. Every design element was considered, from the vintage photo of Scoopy the office cat in Scoopy’s Notebook to the paper’s iconic front-page masthead itself.
Goodstein handed off the responsibility to Michael Shirey, The Villager’s senior designer, who crafted the top-to-bottom redesign. Out went the historic, hand-cut lettering of The Villager’s original-style masthead, replaced by a bolder, modern font. (In practical terms, the cleaner, more streamlined logo is also far easier to read on a smartphone’s small screen.)
Goodstein, along with Editor in Chief Lincoln Anderson and others, provided input and feedback along the way during the process.
The paper’s redesign was launched with the Oct. 17, 2013, issue, which featured color on every page, and also contained a photo-filled 80th anniversary special section. The issue was laid out by graphic designer Chris Ortiz, who also designed the cover of the anniversary special section.
There was praise from some readers, yet also some stinging criticism.
But the Better Newspaper Contest judge for this category was singularly wowed — Shirey’s redesign had knocked it out of the park! The Villager was awarded first place for Overall Design Excellence.
In his or her comments, the judge effusively wrote, “New logo — new look for a paper that has been around 80 years! Love it. The Villager is exactly what a weekly community newspaper should look like. Nice ads, photos, use of color, consistent look, not too cluttered.”
In addition, Milo Hess won first place for Picture Story for his photos of the Westminster Dog Show. Hess went backstage to capture the canine competitors getting their fur blow-dried or just lounging around while waiting to be judged.
“Just when you think you’ve seen all the Westminster photos you could possibly have seen,” the judge wrote, “here comes a presentation with uniqueness, humor and a display of incredible photographic talent. A great job. To take a subject that’s been photographed a million times and still deliver something so different, even better, that’s incredible.”
Hess also, umm, “scooped up” honorable mention for Art Photo.
The Villager garnered second place for its news headlines, which are written by Anderson. In most of the competition’s categories, awards were handed out in two, three or even as many as five divisions, based on newspaper circulation size. But for Headline Writing, all of the state’s papers were competing against each other, lumped into one so-called “open division.” So, The Villager can be said to have the second-best headlines in the state.
Among the paper’s winning headline entries were “Blogger skewers conservancy over hot dog purge in the park,” “Typewriter repairman’s job has been punctuated by changes,” and “Weiner, not going down easy, keeps on waging campaign.”
“Great plays on words. None made me groan,” the judge wrote.
In an award in a very prestigious category, The Villager took third place for Best Editorial Page. This category includes the editorial, opinion pieces (talking points and notebooks), letters to the editor, editorial cartoon and any other illustrations or photos.
The winning entry included editorials on Soho street vendors, the mayor’s large-size soda “ban” and the city’s designation of the South Village Historic District. Opinion pieces included Jerry Tallmer’s reflections on his aborted assignment to accompany Ed Koch to a movie and write about Hizzoner as a film critic (Koch pulled out, worrying he would come off looking bad), Ann Votaw’s thoughts on being a struggling Village dancer after seeing “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Chad Marlow’s talking point arguing why Daniel Garodnick would make the best City Council speaker, and Scott Oglesby’s first-person piece on his experiences as a veteran New York City cyclist.
“Editorials are really well-written,” the judge commented. “Typography and size of columns keep readers’ interest. Strong opinion pages. These writers definitely work well together, and it shows in this quality paper.”
In addition, in another “open category,” The Villager won third place for Coverage of Religion. The winning entries included Anderson’s article on the “miracle” reopening of St. Brigid’s Church on Avenue B after a major renovation saved the building from demolition; Tequila Minsky’s report on the salvaging of the ark at Anshe Meseritz on E. Sixth St. as the building was being redeveloped for residential condos; and Lesley Sussman’s obituary on Rabbi Pesach Ackerman, of Anshe Meseritz.
The St. Brigid’s article was extensively illustrated by a two-page spread of Villager reporter Sam Spokony’s terrific photos of the church’s interior, as well as Jefferson Siegel’s photos of Archbishop Timothy Dolan leading the rededication service.
“Varied content. Good use of art,” the judge wrote.
Bob Krasner won third place for Art Photo for his shot of an artist painting an ornate pair of eyes at Art Around the Park at the HOWL! Festival at Tompkins Square Park.
“An interesting juxtaposition of an artist and his work,” the judge in this category wrote.
Ira Blutreich received third place for Editorial Cartoon for his take on surveillance. His toon shows a couple in their living room watching TV while cameras, in turn, watch them from every angle — even from the TV itself. In the foreground, two goldfish in a fishbowl wryly comment on how it’s a shame no one has any privacy nowadays.
“Is anything really private anymore?” the judge commented. “A very timely subject matter.”
In terms of points won in editorial categories, The Villager finished in the top 10 in the state — exactly 10th, in fact.
The awards were announced last weekend at NYPA’s annual spring convention Upstate in Saratoga Springs.
Publisher Goodstein was thrilled at the paper’s strong showing, particularly with the top design honors.
“Once again, The Villager (along with her sister papers, Downtown Express and Gay City News) captured a number of awards in NYPA’s Better Newspaper Contest,” she said. “As publisher, I was delighted, but not surprised. The dedication, creativity and journalistic excellence Lincoln Anderson brings to The Villager every week ensures quality and style that is sure to be recognized by his peers.
“One award was particularly exciting: First Place, Best Overall Design for The Villager. As our loyal readers know, The Villager redesign was launched in October as part of our 80th anniversary edition — this was the winning entry! The redesign was fun, exciting, challenging and, well…scary. It’s an 80-year-old paper, after all.
“For how good it feels to be part of a great paper, it feels even better to be part of a great team. The Villager redesign took a village (or at least the entire team at The Villager) to achieve. Every single person in the company weighed in on the changes and offered ideas to freshen the look without losing the paper’s rich legacy. Michael Shirey, our lead designer, created a new, modern look and shepherded the paper through the design process, while Lincoln used his editorial eye to ensure the integrity of the paper was not diminished at the expense of design. The end result: an award-winning design. Way to go team!”
It was also a banner year for Gay City News, which won first place in the Magazine category for its Wedding Pride publication and also for Coverage of Religion for articles on the impact of Pope Francis, plus second place for Special Holiday Edition for its Gay Pride issue, and third place for Coverage of Police, Crime and Courts. Editor Paul Schindler won second place for Coverage of Elections and Politics.
Downtown Express won third place for Obituaries, including pieces on James Gandolfini and Liz Berger, former president of the Downtown Alliance business improvement district.
Over all, NYC Community Media finished fifth in the state in total editorial points for group or chain newspapers.
