The Vineyard Gazette won recognition for excellence in journalism by the New England Newspaper and Press Association this weekend with 28 awards for writing, photography, page design, digital strategy and promotional material.

Action at a Little League game won second place in sports photography.

Maria Thibodeau

Action at a Little League game won second place in sports photography.

Maria Thibodeau

The newspaper captured nine first place awards, six in editorial and three in advertising. Additionally, Gazette editor Julia Wells won recognition for her career as a reporter and editor spanning more than four decades, with induction into the New England Newspaper and Press Association Hall of Fame.

The weekend convention and awards ceremony was held in Boston on Friday and Saturday.

Weekly and small daily newspapers in five circulation categories competed for prizes; there were more than 3,000 entries this year. The contest period ran from August 1, 2018 through July 2019.

Longtime Gazette staff photographer Mark Alan Lovewell won two prizes, including first place in the feature photo category for a picture he took of a church steeple reflected on a rainy street.

Gazette managing editor Bill Eville won first place in the serious columninst category for an essay he wrote last year. Mr. Eville also won two third place awards, one in the obituary category for his obit of Island photographer Peter Simon, and the other for his arts profile of filmmaker Scott Frank.

Gazette reporter Steve Myrick captured a first-place prize for a profile he wrote of Chilmark town moderator Everett Poole.

Reporter Noah Asimow won prizes for government reporting, history reporting and sports writing.

And Holly Pretsky won second place for a profile she wrote of Lenny Verville.

Gazette special projects editor and food writer Susie Middleton, and graphic designer Jane McTeigue won recognition for their work across more than one publication.

Chilmark election scene took second place in news feature category.

Albert O. Fischer 3rd

Chilmark election scene took second place in news feature category.

Albert O. Fischer 3rd

The Island Guide, a full-color comprehensive guide for visitors in its second year, won first place as a niche publication.

“I love this magazine! . . . so much so I want to visit!” one judge enthused.

The Gazette also won first place for excellence in digital strategy, and two first-place prizes for promotion campaigns. One was last year’s subscription campaign that raised more than $11,000 for the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services Connect to End Violence program.

Cook the Vineyard, a new website launched last year by the Gazette and Ms. Middleton, won second place in the innovation category.

The Gazette website, which has consistently won awards in recent years, also won a second-place prize.

In awarding a third-place prize for print newspaper design, judges recognized the uniqueness of the Gazette as a black-and-white broadsheet.

“What a gift the Vineyard Gazette offers its readers,” judges wrote. ““This steroid-sized broadsheet reflects it 1846 founding and a sense of belonging to both the history and future of the community.”

The Martha’s Vineyard Times also won numerous awards.

More pictures.