For the third year in a row, the Coastal Point received significant recognition from the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association Inc. (MDDC) at its annual awards conference, held this year in Ellicott City, Md., to recognize outstanding work in all aspects of news publication in the region. The independent weekly newspaper brought home a total of 27 honors from the April 17 and 18 awards.
The MDDC is a 100-year-old association comprising 164 newspapers in the Maryland, Delaware and D.C. areas, including all of the region’s daily newspapers and many of the non-dailies in the area.
For 2007, the Coastal Point won 17 awards for advertising in their division of non-dailies with a circulation of 15,000 to 35,000, including three Best of Category awards for Use of Humor (Bob Bertram) and 10 Pounds of Stuff in a 5 Pound Bag (Bob Bertram) and Local Retail B&W half-page or more (Jaime McNamee). The Best of Category winners topped not only the Coastal Point’s division in those categories but beat out well-known dailies such as the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun.
The Coastal Point advertising department was also a 2007 Advertising Contest Sweepstakes Winners in their division, hailed for the best advertising by any newspaper in the MDDC of between 15,000 and 35,000 in circulation.
“I’m extremely proud of the whole staff,” said Point Publisher Susan Lyons. “I’m constantly impressed with their dedication to quality, 100 percent of the time.”
“It’s not every day that you can get this level of quality in a community newspaper,” Lyons added, “but we are fortunate to have some of the top designers in the business working at the Coastal Point.”
McNamee said she was pleased with the recognition the MDDC lauded on the work she and the Coastal Point advertising staff put in each day.
“I’m very honored that the judges considered our work to be among the best in the entire region,” said McNamee. “It’s a great feeling to know that the hard work we put in every day for our advertisers and our readers is seen by others as placing us at the top of our field.”
The Point staff also crossed the line between advertising and editorial honors, with several advertising awards and a Best of Show award for a feature photo for Art Director Shaun Lambert.
The editorial staff won nine awards in all, in their division of non-dailies from 10,000 to 20,000 in circulation, plus the Best of Show honors.
Lambert’s photo of an egret successfully catching its dinner topped all of those submitted in the MDDC’s Feature Photo category, including those from much larger newspapers and full-time photographers. In addition to its original publication in the newspaper, the photo can also be found in the Coastal Point’s award-winning 2008 calendar as the image for the month of April.
“It’s an honor to be picked by my peers,” said Lambert, whose wife, Ruslana, took second place in the same category with a photo that graces the cover of the calendar. “For the Coastal Point to sweep two categories on the editorial side and to win the sweepstakes award on the advertising side, shows the kind of imagination and talent the Coastal Point has on its staff.
“Everyone who entered the contest won an award, and that’s just amazing,” continued Lambert. “I’m proud of everyone here, because we all work so hard to put out a high-quality, informative newspaper.”
Lambert said shooting the award-winning photo was an exciting challenge.
“My photo is called ‘Egret of Death,’ because it reminds me of the angel of death, with its wings spread open and a fish in its mouth. Poor fish!” he said. “I sat there for about an hour trying to get a good shot before the egret actually caught a fish that I had an angle for. It was exciting to see that I had a photo that actually turned out well enough to publish.”
In addition to the Lamberts’ sweep of the Feature Photo category, the Coastal Point’s editorial department also swept the Local Column: Feature or Humor category in its division, taking both first and second places.
First-time winner and Point Reporter Ryan Saxton was excited at being recognized by the MDDC and quick to share his accolades.
“It was a real honor to be recognized at the awards this year, and having it be my first time submitting an entry to the contest made it that much more exceptional,” said Saxton. “The article I was recognized for — a first-person piece about preparing for the holidays — was one of my favorites.”
“I owe thanks to Darin and Susan, who have permitted me to explore my writing capabilities and test myself on a variety of topics,” Saxton continued. “They’ve been an incredible source of guidance and assistance since I joined the Point in 2006, and they have done such an extraordinary job with the paper since its start.”
“I was astonished last year with our staff’s performance, but to come back and bring home the 27 awards we did this year really says something about our paper,” he added. “I’m truly grateful to be working among an impressive, award-winning group of people. Everyone on our staff has a lot to be proud of, and working alongside of them is more of an experience than I could have ever imagined.”
Point Editor Darin McCann showed genuine pride in his staff, but his all too-familiar self-depreciating humor came shining though when he spoke of his own recognition with first-place honors in the Local Column: Feature or Humor category for a column on odd rules in beach towns around the country.
“It’s really thrilling to see other people recognize the talents and hard work of our staff. They work extremely hard to put out a product every week that reflects and represents our community, and it’s rewarding to see them get noticed,” he said.
“I’m flattered that the judges enjoyed my column,” McCann added. “Actually, I’m just happy that somebody other than my mother read it.”
Point News Editor M. Patricia Titus brought home four MDDC awards this year — double her tally from the 2006 contest. For the second year in a row, Titus took the top prize in the division in the category of Local Column: Critical Thinking for a piece about her autistic godson.
“It’s wonderful that the judges again found my column about life in a household affected by autism so compelling,” said Titus. “This issue is of utmost importance to our entire society, and if telling my godson’s story and that of his family helps people understand their struggles better or helps even one family with autism, I can only be utterly grateful for the chance Darin and Susan have given me to tell these personal stories.”
While pleased at the recognition of her research into public beach access with a first place award in the State Government category for the division, Titus said she was especially thrilled with a second-place nod in the Spot News category for a photo of a stranded dolphin and volunteer rescuers.
“I finished second to the legendary Marc Clery in the division contest,” noted Titus. “And Marc’s photo went on to win the entire category, above even photographers from the big metro dailies. To finish among such illustrious company, as someone who spends most of my time writing, is a great honor. It’s great that I can tell a story with my camera sometimes, too. I’m also very grateful to Suzanne Thurman, who has kept us so closely involved with MERR’s activities and let us get such a close look at our marine mammals.”
The Coastal Point has also won at least one award in the MDDC’s 2008 New Media Contest, the first time such awards for Web sites and other new ways of publishing for the newspaper business have been made by the group. The Point staff will find out what award or awards they have won in the contest when the New Media awards are handed out on May 23.
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And the awards are ...
The Coastal Point advertising department received the following MDDC awards for 2007:
• First place — Local Retail B&W, half-page or more; Jaime McNamee; Hickman Builders — “Distinctive homes for distinctive tastes”
• First place — Local Real Estate, Color; Jaime McNamee; Coldwell Banker — Salt Pond — “Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage”
• First place — Use of Humor; Bob Bertram; “Oh Boy, Oh Boy — Blackberries — It’s so sad”
• First place — 10 Pounds of Stuff in a 5 Pound Bag; Bob Bertram — Banks Wine & Spirits — “Banks Summer Entertaining Specials”
• Second place — Local Retail B&W, less than half-page; Bob Bertram; Ducks Unlimited — “Ducks Unlimited”
• Second place — Local Real Estate, Color; Shaun Lambert; Jeremy Smith — “Ocean Mist, Topside, Sandalwood”
• Second place — Special Section, Annual; Art Department — Various — “Abode & Abloom”
• Second place — House Promotion Ads; Bob Bertram — Coastal Point — “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”
• Second place — 10 Pounds of Stuff in a 5 Pound Bag; Jaime McNamee; Bethany Bytes — “Bethany Bytes”
• Third place — Local Retail Color, less than half-page; Shaun Lambert — iLand Art Gallery — “Cruise On In!”
• Third place — Ad Campaign or Series; Bob Bertram; Anything Goes — “Seeing Red/Rhymes with Orange/Pretty in Pink”
• Third place — Print Promotion of Newspaper; Bob Bertram, Staff — Coastal Point — “Another great day at the beach…2008 Calendar”
• Third place — Use of Humor; Jane Johnson; J.S. Benett & Son — “Wanted Dead or Alive”
The Coastal Point editorial staff received the following 2007 MDDC awards:
• First place — Local Column: Critical Thinking; M. Patricia Titus; “A Monkey on his Back…”
• First place — Local Column: Feature or Humor; Darin J. McCann; “Life’s a Beach — With Rules”
• First place — State Government; M. Patricia Titus Coastal Point; “Public Access to Beaches a Sticky Issue”
• First place — Feature Photo; Shaun Lambert; “Egret of Death”
• First place — Growth & Development; Jonathan Starkey; “Development: The Growth of Eastern Sussex”
• Second place — Local Column: Feature or Humor; Ryan Saxton; “Holiday Spirit — A Labor of Love or Just Labor?”
• Second place — Spot News Photo; M. Patricia Titus; “Risso’s Dolphin Stranded on Beach”
• Second place — Feature Photo; Ruslana Lambert; “Lazy Days”
• Second place — Business/Economic; M. Patricia Titus; “Are Chicken Houses Terrorism Targets?”