Union Leader wins 20 NHPA awards, including general excellence
Jun. 21—New Hampshire Union Leader reporter Shawne K. Wickham was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the New Hampshire Press Association's Excellence in Journalism awards banquet Thursday.
The Union Leader also took first place for General Excellence among large news organizations and received 18 other awards, including seven first places.
The event, recognizing the state's best journalism and journalists, was held at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
Wickham, who has been a reporter with the Union Leader for more than 40 years, also won first place in the health reporting and sports writing categories, second place for environmental reporting and third for general news reporting.
Among the highlights of her career, she said, were covering Christa McAuliffe and the 1986 Challenger tragedy; reporting from Kuwait in 2011 about the New Hampshire Army National Guardsmen who were deployed there; and going on a field trip to Washington with a group of eighth-graders from New Hampshire for the inauguration of Barack Obama.
She completed a year-long, grant-funded project exploring solutions to the state's mental health and substance use challenges, a series called "Beyond the Stigma," in 2018-2019.
Kevin Landrigan, a previous recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, was named Columnist of the Year for his column, State House Dome.
Paul Feely took first place in the political reporting category for his series of interviews with Manchester's mayoral candidates.
Deputy Managing Editor Tom Lynch was awarded best design for his NH Life page, "New Hampshire and Golf."
Photographer Mark Bolton took first place in the feature photo category for his photo of UNH students throwing chalk dust in celebration at an October 2023 football game.
Dave Lane's photo of a National Guardsman seeing his daughter upon arriving home in February 2023 was awarded first place for general news photo.
"It's great to be in a state that produces such amazing journalism. I am very proud of our team at the New Hampshire Union Leader for their outstanding work," said Union Leader President and Publisher Brendan J. McQuaid. "We are all proud to have Shawne Wickham as part of our team; her Lifetime Achievement Award was well-deserved recognition of her incredible, ongoing journalistic career."
Other Union Leader awards:
—Health reporting: Jonathan Phelps, second place.
—General news: Michael Cousineau, second place.
—Arts and Entertainment reporting: Julia Anne Weekes, second place.
—Columnist of the Year: Jonathan Phelps, third place.
—Business reporting: Michael Cousineau, third place.
—Government reporting: Paul Feely, third place.
—Feature writing: Roberta Baker, third place.
—Crime/courts reporting: Jonathan Phelps, third place.
The Dennis Joos Memorial Award, named in honor of the Colebrook News and Sentinel editor shot and killed when he tried to subdue a gunman, went to James Rinker of the Keene Sentinel for articles documenting his journey of coming out as transgender and his gender transition.
This award honors a New Hampshire journalist who makes a unique personal sacrifice in pursuit of covering an event or issue of significance to his or her readers, viewers or listeners.
Mike Pride, Concord Monitor's editor for a quarter-century, was recognized with the Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award, which was accepted by his son, Misha. Pride died in April 2023.
