PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island Catholic was honored with a prestigious Publick Occurrences Award by the New England Newspaper and Press Association (NENPA) on September 21 during a luncheon at the NENPA/NYPA (New York Press Association) Fall Publisher’s Conference, held at the Omni Hotel in Providence.
NENPA bestowed several awards spotlighting distinguished publications, individual stories and outstanding achievements in community journalism.
Rhode Island Catholic won for its “Israel at War Series,” which the contest judges deemed “a remarkable 4-part report on the conflict in Israel and Gaza, written from firsthand observations.”
Executive Editor Rick Snizek reported from Ashkelon, the southernmost city in Israel, on the Gaza border, on day one of the Israeli ground invasion into Gaza, as well as from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Correspondent Jennifer Barton spearheaded a thoroughly researched and informative history of the region titled, “Whose Holy Land is it anyway?” that was part of the series and republished by newspapers across the U.S., Canada and around the world.
Among the series of stories featured were interviews with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, a close advisor to Pope Francis, in the Old City, and in Tel Aviv, with the mother of children being held hostage in Gaza following the attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Publick Occurrences Awards recognize “the very best work that New England newspapers produce each year.”
The award was established in 1990 to recognize individual and team merit at New England newspapers to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of Publick Occurrences, the first newspaper published in America. Four days after it appeared in Boston in 1690, Publick Occurrences was suppressed by the royal governor.
Other awards presented at the conference included Newspapers of the Year, the New England First Amendment Award, the Allen B. Rogers Editorial Award and the Bob Wallack Community Journalism Award.
