WBJ honored for marijuana, collaborative and investigative coverage
Emmanuel Larbi, co-owner of Accra Girls restaurant in Worcester, was one of the featured business owners in the City of Immigrants series.
Worcester Business Journal on Saturday night received eight awards from the New England Newspaper & Press Association's Better Newspaper Competition, running the gamut from coverage of the cannabis industry to honors for investigations, feature writing, an editorial cartoon and Columnist Renee Diaz.
"Awards, obviously, are not the reason we pursue journalism excellence on a daily basis, but receiving this validation from a great organization like NENPA shows the judges and our peers in the industry think highly of the work we do," said WBJ Editor Brad Kane.
News Editor Grant Welker and Kane took home one of eight Special Recognition awards during the evening, earning first place in the combined category of Excellence in Newsroom Collaboration and Partnerships, for their work with the Worcester Regional Research Bureau on the City of Immigrants series about the foreign-born entrepreneurs in Worcester. In the category, Welker and Kane competed against all daily, weekly and specialty publications in New England.
"This collaboration shows how a smaller news organization can produce high-quality journalism that competes with larger news organizations," the NENPA judges wrote.
Also taking home two first place awards was former WBJ Staff Writer Zachary Comeau for his in-depth coverage of the Massachusetts marijuana industry. Comeau won the Best Racial or Ethinc Issue Coverage category for weekly publications for his Left Behind feature on people of color missing out on the initial legal marijuana business and employment opportunities. Comeau also won the General News category for specialty publications for his Behind Schedule story about how the slow rollout of the legal cannabis industry was helping the black market.
"An expansive takeout on a hot topic, rich in detail and expansive in scope," the NENPA judges wrote of the Behind Schedule story.
This is the second year in a row WBJ won the General News category, after Welker won it in 2019 for his story Worcester's Overhyped Renaissance, looking at the data behind the buzz around the city's economic development.
This year, Welker took home second place in the Health Reporting category for weekly newspapers for his Worcester: New England's Opioid Capital story about how Worcester stocked more prescription opioid pills in the years leading up to the health crisis than any other New England city. Welker also won third place for Investigative/Enterprise Reporting for weekly newspapers for his Tax Breaks: Paying for Growth series, a deep-dive into how and why Central Mass. communities offer tax-increment financing deals, which was honored with a separate Publick Occurrences in October. Welker won the Investigative/Enterprise Reporting category last year, for his The Boardroom Gap series about the lack of women in Central Mass. business leadership positions.
"An excellent piece of enterprise reporting that digs deep into an issue that impacts taxpayers across Massachusetts," the NENPA judges wrote of the Tax Breaks: Paying for Growth series.
Kane won a second place award this year in the Human Interest Feature story category for weekly newspapers for his Business & Friendship story about a group of Canal District business owners who stay in touch via a group text.
"Interesting business story, explained clearly and written with a satisfying flow," the NENPA judges wrote.
Renee Diaz, the owner of the Worcester dessert shop The Queen's Cups, received third place in the Serious Columnist category for weekly newspapers, for her The Struggle is Real monthly column, which offers entrepreneurs and business owners advice, based on her own honest assessment of her struggles.
"Renee's columns have been a valuable addition to the WBJ since the first one debuted in August 2018," Kane said. "Her unique ability to tap into her own emotional ups and downs and convey those feelings in an honest and relatable way to our readers is a wonder to behold."
Editorial cartoonist Don Landgren Jr. received third place in the Editorial Cartoon category for his drawing regarding the GateHouse Media layoffs. Landgren competed against all daily, weekly and specialty publications in New England in that category.
"Simple but effect take on newspaper cutbacks," the NENPA judges wrote.
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