The Bangor Daily News’ politics editor Michael Shepherd was named Journalist of the Year at the Maine Press Association’s annual conference in South Portland on Saturday.
The paper also won general excellence for advertising.
A BDN weekly newspaper, the Houlton Pioneer Times, also won general excellence in the weekly print newspaper category.
“This is a true community newspaper, with every story something that will be of interest to the readers,” contest judges from the Utah Press Association said regarding the Houlton Pioneer Times.
Shepherd won Journalist of the Year for his dogged coverage of Maine politics.
Shepherd’s reporting forced Maine’s attorney general to disclose an inappropriate office relationship with one of his subordinates earlier this year. Shepherd stayed on the story, and thanks to his careful source work was able to report that Aaron Frey reassigned his employee less than an hour before issuing a press release.
Shepherd also extensively covered the 2022 election, including the gubernatorial race between former Gov. Paul LePage and Gov. Janet Mills. He has overhauled the BDN’s election night operations, bringing aboard a new partner, Decision Desk HQ, that allows the BDN to call the races before other Maine newspapers.
In addition to his political coverage, as an editor Shepherd has overseen several major breaking news stories in the past year, including the school shooting hoax calls last fall and the quadruple homicide in Bowdoin this spring.
“He holds officials accountable. He tells his audience what the major issues are. He tells them who’s likely to win, or lose, and why it matters,” BDN Managing Editor Dan MacLeod said in nominating Shepherd for the honor. “He…clearly outlines the stakes on every story. He decodes jargon, and helps his staff see the real story from the relentless stream of spin and misinformation.”
Shepherd was hired at the BDN in 2015 and promoted to politics editor in 2019.
In addition, BDN staff took home 24 awards at this year’s MPA conference in news, sports, opinion, video, photography, reviews and advertising.
First place winners included an investigation into a surgeon at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta who rose to a leadership position despite having multiple complaints filed against him; breaking news coverage of a how a school shooting hoax plunged a Maine school into chaos; and the revelation that most Maine high schools don’t employ full-time athletic trainers.
Troy R. Bennett took top news video honors for his video of a nonprofit that removes lost fishing gear from the ocean floor. Opinion editor Susan Young won first place for opinion columnist, and George Danby took first place for editorial cartoonist.
The BDN’s weekly reporters also received a number of awards. Among the first place winners in the MPA’s weekly division were Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli’s story for the Houlton Pioneer Times on Patten’s board calling for a vote on the Pickett Mountain mining resolution; Valerie Royzman’s column for the Piscataquis Observer on the war in Ukraine; and Melissa Lizotte’s reporting for the Aroostook Republican on the revival of downtown Caribou.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the year Michael Shepherd was promoted to politics editor. It was 2019.
