ROCKPORT – The Sun Journal was named the state’s best Sunday newspaper on Saturday during the Maine Press Association’s fall convention. It was the second straight year that the newspaper took the Sunday general excellence award and the third time in the past four years.

The Bangor Daily News took the general excellence honors for daily newspapers.

The Sun Journal also earned top honors in multiple news categories, including spot news, editorial writing and Freedom of Information.

Also winners: the newspaper’s school security investigation, its editorial page, and the pulp and paper report from Brazil that appeared in the Sunday paper on Oct. 22, 2006. The paper also won first-place awards for several photographs and front-page designs.

The newspaper’s school security investigation was a team project of newsroom staff and lead writer and reporter Lindsay Tice, who tested security at 37 local schools by walking into unlocked schools and recording how long it took for school personnel to stop them. In several schools, reporters were never stopped and spent more than a half-hour inside the schools, walking past classrooms and through gymnasiums and cafeterias filled with students.

“This project exemplifies the spirit of teamwork in the Sun Journal newsroom,” said City Editor Karen Kreworuka. “Reporters, editors, photographers and designers participated in the school visits, collected data and interviewed officials. The results of this coordinated effort were gratifying – it led to changes at the state and local level.”

The findings led Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron to call on the state’s emergency task force and individual school districts to tackle school security, which resulted in recommendations for policies and practices protecting students.

The Sun Journal’s investigation was also recognized by the national Associated Press Managing Editors Association, which recently awarded an honorable mention citation for the work. The Sun Journal was the only Maine newspaper to earn APME honors in the past year, an accomplishment noted during the MPA’s conference.

The Sun Journal won two first-place awards in the Special Section Weekend and Analysis Weekend categories for its Oct. 22, 2006 project on the pulp and paper industry, a multi-media examination of how Brazil’s industry is booming at a time when Maine’s has fallen on some hard times.

Staff writer Carol Coultas and photographer Amber Waterman traveled to Brazil, visited plantations and paper operations, and talked to dozens of people in and outside of the industry. Their numerous reports – in print and on the Web – included a look at the science behind Brazil’s industry, the role the industry holds in that country’s economy, and the people who depend on the mills for income.

The newspaper won first place in the Spot News Daily category for its coverage of the March 31 police standoff with a 42-year-old Auburn man after he shot and killed his elderly mother in front of their Minot Avenue home.

The newspaper’s earliest reports were published online, less than an hour after the initial police call, with a reporter and photographer remaining at the scene to update stories from noon that afternoon until 5 the next morning, when police confirmed the suspect had been killed.

The Sun Journal also took first place in the Freedom of Information Daily category for its July 21, 2006, coverage of the arrest of Mexico police officer Michael Richard on a charge of domestic violence and threatening.

The report, published over a span of many weeks, included an editorial critical of the Rumford Police Department for refusing to release the booking photo of officer Richard, and multiple stories on the officer’s long disciplinary record, obtained under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. It was clear that the police department shielded information about a police officer that it does not ordinarily shield for citizens, and the Sun Journal relied on public access laws to confront and reveal the double standard.

Newspapers were judged on work published between April 1, 2006, and March 31, 2007. This year’s Sun Journal winners, including 15 first-place awards, are:

First-place

• Terry Karkos, Scott Thistle, Tony Ronzio, Judith Meyer, Freedom of Information Daily, “Mexico officer arrested.”

• Nick Masuda, Pete Gorksi, Mark Mogensen, Amber Waterman, Carol Coultas and Doug Van Reeth, Special Section Weekend, “Brazil …”

• Carol Coultas, Analysis Weekend, “Brazil: A rising star …”

• Sun Journal Staff, Investigative Report Weekend, “School security.”

• Sun Journal Staff, Spot News Story Daily, “Suspected killer holds cops at bay.”

• Tony Ronzio, Cam Churchill, Editorial Page Weekend, Perspective, Jan. 21, 2007.

• Tony Ronzio, Editorial Daily, “Noble is perfect …”

• Douglas Van Reeth, News Photo Daily, “A quiet man.”

• Daryn Slover, People Photo Daily, “I want a cure.”

• Nick Masuda, Amber Waterman, Douglas Van Reeth, Specialty Page Design Daily, “Family affair.”

• Nick Masuda, Alicia Ford Pelletier, Jose Leiva, Douglas Van Reeth, Front Page Design Daily, “Lewiston mourns loss …”

• Amber Waterman, News Photo Weekend, “Honoring heroes.”

• Russ Dillingham, Scenic Photo Daily, “Sumac.”

• Lindsey Montana, Sponsorship Page Advertising Daily, “State championship.”

• Kevin Mills, Sports Story Weekend, “Eating to Win.”

Second-place

• Sports staff, Sports Section, Weekend.

• Terry Karkos, News Story Daily, “Just unbelievable.”

• Scott Thistle, News Story Weekend, “The day Danny died.”

• Kathryn Skelton, Anna Rodrigue, Lindsay Tice, Investigative Report Daily, “9/11 five years later – are we safer?”

• Sun Journal Staff, Continuing Story Daily, “Plane crash – ROTC.”

• Lindsay Tice, Arts/Lifestyle Feature Weekend, “Is my call really important.”

• Justin Pelletier, Sports Feature Daily, “Mt. Blue athlete battling.”

• Kevin Mills, Sports Feature Weekend, “I feel like I died…”

• Scott Taylor, Freedom of Information Weekend, “$711,000 ladder truck.”

• Sun Journal Staff, Continuing Story Weekend, “Six killed in Poland crash.”

• Kathryn Skelton, Feature Story Daily, “Wee piles of snow.”

• Russ Dillingham, Spot News Photo Daily, “Downtown accident.”

• Russ Dillingham, Feature Photo Weekend, “29th Roof.”

• Pete Gorski, Illustration Daily, “Mystery moose.”

• Jose Leiva, Feature Photo Daily, “Respite from the heat.”

• Nick Masuda, Daryn Slover, Justin Pelletier, Specialty Page Design Daily, “Next.”

• Nick Masuda, Jose Leiva, Russ Dillingham, Corey LaFlamme, Front-Page Design Daily, “Cupid’s Curse.”

• Nick Masuda, Pete Gorski, Heather McCarthy, Front-Page Design Weekend, “So, what will it mean to you?”

• Amber Waterman, News Photo Weekend, “It’s so hard to say goodbye.”

• Sun Journal Advertising Staff, Advertising Layout Daily, Nov. 28, 2006, publication.

• Sun Journal Advertising Staff, Advertising Layout Weekend, Jan. 28, 2007, publication.

• Leo Baillargeon, Best NIE Idea Daily, Academic Advocate “Dracula.”

Third-place winners:

• Maggie Gill-Austern, Arts/Lifestyle Feature Weekend, “Seekers of enlightenment.”

• Bonnie Washuk, Feature Story Weekend, “Learning to thrive.”

• Sun Journal Staff, Bag Lady and Good-Buy Girl, Local Column Daily, “Bliss Thru Shopping.”

• Corey LaFlamme, Christine Crockett, Special Section Weekend, “Ghosts of 9/11.”

• Kalle Oakes, Sports Column Weekend, “The Hot Corner.”

• Nick Masuda, Steve Sherlock, Tony Blasi, Sports Section Daily, “Family affair.”

• Russ Dillingham, Feature Photo Daily, “Hog Heaven: The Oxford County Fair.”

• Daryn Slover, Sports Photo Daily, “Oak Hill High School goalkeeper.”

• Pete Gorski, Specialty Page Design Weekend, “Perspective: Waking God.”

• Ursula Albert, Pete Gorski, Specialty Page Weekend, “Merry Christmas – now get out of my way!”

• Michelle Pushard, Local Ad Color Weekend, “Your Riverwatch Wedding.”