News stories writen by North Country This Week and NorthCountyNow.com reporters have been honored statewide for coverage of business news and local government.

The paper also received an award for design of quality advertising campaigns.

The New York Press Association, which counts more than 700 weekly and daily newspapers among its membership, presented North Country This Week with a first place award for “Coverage of Business, Financial and Economic News” at its meeting April 13-14.

“Entries rose above the rest by providing serious depth to the reporting,” said the judges. The award was presented to reporter/editors Jimmy Lawton, Andy Gardner and Matt Lindsey.

The paper received second place award for “Coverage of Local Government” for reporting by Lawton and Gardner.

“One of the most important responsibilities of a newspaper is to show readers exactly how local government operates, be it spending, decision-making or public safety and trusts,” wrote the contest judges. “The newspaper’s readers have a better understanding of their local government because these reporters did an outstanding job.”

A third place award for “Best Advertising Campaign” was presented to Cathy Whalen, Production Manager of North Country This Week, for a series of ads created for Mort Backus & Sons, Ogdensburg.

“The background picture is very creative and I like how it was able to be put behind the cars without being distracting or in the way,” wrote the judge. “The car advertising is very to the point and it gives all the necessary information when people are looking at cars.”

The awards were presented during the press association’s annual convention in Albany.

The first place award for business coverage by a non-business publication was judged on thoroughness of reporting and the newspaper’s enterprise on overall coverage throughout the year, not on one specific story.

The judges based their decision on five stories from 2017. They included “The High Cost of Life Flights” by Lawton which reported a number of St. Lawrence County residents are facing bills as high as $65,000 following a medical plane flight to Burlington, Vt. or Syracuse, a fee often not covered by insurance.

“Particularly liked the initiative in going after the details on the costs of air ambulance flights,” wrote the judges. “Every turn seemed to seek and get more answers for each story.”

Other stories considered for the first place award focused on the relatively high number of failed state-funded economic development projects in St. Lawrence County by Gardner, and a story by Lindsey about Hebel Welding of Rensselaer Falls receiving a contract from Kraft Canada that had previously been handled in China.

The Sag Harbor Express won second place for business coverage and the Chronicle of Goshen took third place.

The second place local government coverage award was presented in the category of weekly and daily papers with 8,000 of more circulation.

Included were reports by Lawton on how a state consolidation plan could cost St. Lawrence County $3.1 million and examining the effects of large amounts of tax-exempt property in the county. Gardner’s stories included reports examining former Massena Supervisor Joe Gray’s suggestion that out-of-area drug suspects be barred from the town and issues involving Aluminum Trail project cost overruns.

First place winner was the Queens Chronicle; The Photo News of Monroe won third place.