PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Daily Hampshire Gazette earned Newspaper of the Year in its circulation class at a New England Newspaper and Press Association awards ceremony held in Providence, Rhode Island over the weekend.

Taking the top prize for the six New England states for the third time in the past decade, and for the first time since 2017, the Gazette was recognized in the weekday category in 2024.

“This is a real team honor and a reflection of the hard work of our staff who care deeply about our mission,” said Executive Editor Dan Crowley of the award. “It’s also an exciting time in the Gazette newsroom with a mix of youth and experience and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish in serving our readers moving forward.”

Newspaper of New England sister publications the Valley Advocate and the Greenfield Recorder both received distinguished awards at the event, with the Advocate selected in the specialty publication category, and the Recorder in the weekday category.

Gazette Publisher Shawn Palmer said New England is blessed to be the home of so many strong local newspapers, with many of the region’s titles having covered their communities for generations, even centuries.

“For the Daily Hampshire Gazette to be judged the best by readers from throughout New England is an honor that we are especially proud to receive,” Palmer said. “This is a well-deserved recognition for the outstanding team we have in Northampton, from reporters and photographers to editors and page designers. I couldn’t be more proud of my colleagues and I thank them all for the great work they do every day for our readers and advertisers.”

The Newspaper of the Year award is the only distinction of its kind in the newspaper industry that is judged by audience members. Newspaper readers throughout the region are appointed to evaluate the entries from a news consumer point of view, then deciding which deserve the honor.

Those readers evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the newspaper based on quality of reporting and writing, use of photos, design and presentation, digital offering, overall utility and value and general impressions, answering questions such as does the newspaper inform, educate, entertain, inspire, motivate and lead, does it reflect and care about the community it serves, does it put the interests of the reader first and is it unique or special in some way?

For the Recorder, this is the second consecutive year it has won the distinguished award, which the Gazette also earned in 2023.

Saturday’s event also saw the handing out of Publick Occurrences Awards, an award category celebrating individual and team merit for remarkable journalism in New England, as well as the Allan B. Rogers Editorial Award, the New England First Amendment Award, the Cornerstone Award and the Bob Wallack Community Journalism Award.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.