NEAPNEA Web Site Contest
2003 Winners
Under 40k
BEST OVERALL SITE
www.centralmaine.com
Central Maine Newspapers, Waterville and Augusta
CentralMaine.com gives readers a good mix of local and national content, especially during the war. The site did a nice job of localizing international content, showing its readers how world events have close-to-home effects.
In other areas:
* Kudos for keeping the site fresh with the latest news. The midday and 4 p.m. reports are easy to find in the news section.
* The events calendar is useful for showing readers what's happening in arenas as diverse as art openings, movie listings, sports and the outdoors. We like the clickable map of Maine's regions that show sights, events and other things to do.
* The sports section does what a good local site does: It localized content when so many sites focus too much on national goings-on. Good use of multimedia, like the online radio, strong content from weeklies, and a daily e-mail newsletter gives it the edge over other sites. There also is a good balance between content and advertising.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
The Telegraph Online
Saving Faith
The Telegraph of Nashua, N.H.
Judges' comments:
The site provides extensive resources on the impact of the priest sex scandals in New Hampshire and makes archives easily accessible. The site also gives readers a place to provide feedback, an essential element in today's interactive world.
SPECIAL SECTION
Greater Nashua in Images
The Telegraph
Judges' comments:
Because newspapers are strapped for news hole, it's important for the Internet to be a creative outlet for photography, and in what's becoming more of a standard for newspaper sites, video. The Nashua Telegraph does a nice job of showing readers a side of the story they can't get in print. We especially liked the "Harmonica Saints" video. We also applaud the photo reprint order form at the bottom of your photos and videos page.
Over 40k
BEST OVERALL SITE
The Providence Journal
Judges' comments:
* Quality layout each day that gives nuggets of news and also allows for easy navigation.
* Also takes advantage of interactive capability (e.g. weblogs on the war) and is graphics-rich.
* Content is a good mix of national and regional stories with smart art that they're not afraid to play up big. For example, on March 20, it had a great pix of soldiers instead of the standard shot of Iraqi buildings and U.S. planes ... Also provided up-to-date content with a text of Saddam
speech and video of Bush's speech. On March 21, it had audio reports from a print guy with link to earlier reports.
* Time stamps under the banner heds (e.g. Local front) helped.
* In short, this is a great site that others would do well to emulate: It has good pix, editing and engaging writing. It consistently offers the whole package that takes advantage of the new medium.
Beyond the Big Dig
The Boston Globe
Judges' comments:
* The help feature (lifesaver) is a stroke of genius.
* Stunning use of Flash on the maps and overviews of what each section offered.
* In short, a simply overpowering coverage of a uniquely Boston project (Central Artery) that was informative and fun to read.
* The interactive elements were also impressive: Not only a current poll, but links to past polls.
* An all-around great job that was easy to navigate and offered links to
previous stories.
ctnow.com And they didn't pull any punches. We also feel this offered a good look at how to use the medium efficiently and well. It had video, audio, interactive maps and a search element to look for names of former slaves and owners.
The Web site awards will be presented May 20, during the spring NEAPNEA conference at The Providence Journal.
How Connecticut Chained Itself to Slavery
The Hartford Courant
Judges' comments:
Though the Boston Globe had a strong section on the priest sex abuse scandal and Projo had an equally compelling section on City Hall on Trial, we felt that the commitment to the Hartford Courant's section on slavery in Connecticut was proportionally bigger in impact and staff effort. Also, it took an in-depth look at a topic not necessarily covered in schools.