Bay State Parent Wins 8 New England Press Association Awards!

Bay State Parent magazine was named one of the best monthly publications in New England last night at the annual New England Press Association Convention at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston.
For the second year in a row, the magazine earned second place for General Excellence in the monthly division.
The American Press Institute judges wrote: "Bay State Parent looks and has lots of content that's of interest to parents. It provides a good forum for the exchange of ideas and the calendar is handy and clear. A good all around effort."
Submitted in this category was the August 2005 and May 2006 issues.
The magazine captured top honors in the Advertising General Excellence category.
The judges wrote: "The newspaper has a very clean, friendly look. Even though the newspaper is a tab, it does not seem cluttered or compact. The colorful, large and cropped photos give the paper a modern and inviting look. Most of the ads are well organized and appealing. Modular ad size organizes the pages well."
Submitted in this category was the March & May 2006 issues.
In all, we won 8 New England Press Association awards, more than any other monthly publication in New England.
The magazine took home 3 first place, 2 second place, and 3 third place awards.
* Freelance writer Stacy Juba's special report on How Safe is Your Child on the School Bus? won first place for General News Story in the monthly division.
The judges wrote: "This exhaustively reported special report explores the important issue of school bus safety and efforts in the Massachusetts Legislature to address the issue. The vast array of facts makes a compelling argument for improvements."
Stacy's report appeared in the August 2005 issue. Read it at this link: http://www.baystateparent.com/news/2005/0801/Articles/
* Bay State Parent magazine swept the local, color advertisement category with three house ads, all conceptualized and designed by Creative Director Paula Monette Ethier, with ad copy by the editor.
The first place ad promoted the magazine's 29 awards won last spring. The judges wrote: "Good use of white space and dominate graphics. Excellent photography and cropping made this ad stand out."
The second place ad announced the magazine's first cover model search contest. The judges wrote: "This ad does a good job of creating a compelling reason for the reader to take action. I liked the arrangement of past magazine covers to illustrate the benefit of participating in the model search. This ad did what well-written ads should."
The third place ad promoted the magazine's camp guides. The judges wrote: "Very good house ad: compelling, dominant graphic, well-written benefit statements and a clear call to action."
* The magazine took third place for Personality Photo for its November 2005 cover. The photographer was Portrait Simple studios. The judges wrote: "Too often, overly controlled situations - perfect lighting, posing and props - produce slick commercial images. But in this case, the personality of the subject breaks through the staging and connects with the camera." Take a peek at the award-winning photograph at this link: http://www.baystateparent.com/news/2005/1101/Front_Page/
* Ad designer Stephanie Renaud took third place honors for a full-page, local black & white ad she designed for a Central Massachusetts gymnastics academy. The judges wrote: "Great ad for cheer and dance tryouts! The photography shows this activity to be fun, challenging, and rewarding. The layout uses white space well (no overuse of type or photos), the reverse stars for the offerings and then the non-reverse stars for the business name. This helps overall readership. Nice job!"
Finally, our sister publication The Landmark newspaper won two NEPA awards. Reporter Alicia Bessette took third place for a spot news story on an animal barn fire and Jim Keogh won second place for human interest article about a teenage suicide.
This year's NEPA Contest featured more than 6,000 entries submitted by daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers published between July 2005 and July 2006.
The New England Press Association has more than 525 member newspapers with a total circulation of 5.9 million and 9.8 million readers in the six-state region. The annual convention in Boston draws more than 1,000 newspaper professionals.