The Granite State News Collaborative is thrilled to announce its standing as a finalist in the 2021 New England Better Newspaper Competition in several categories. Six awards will be given to the Granite State News Collaborative and Partners. Three awards will be given to Roberta Baker, reporter at partner outlet The Laconia Daily Sun, which The Collaborative entered on her behalf. 

“This is such a testament to the incredible talent and dedication of our partner outlets, reporters and freelancers,” said GSNC director Melanie Plenda. “None of this happens without them. The partners don’t have to work together. They don’t have to share. They do it because it’s the right thing to do. They do it because it helps their communities. And because they do, we’re able to deliver a lot of really outstanding journalism to every part of New Hampshire.  It’s really tremendous to be recognized for those efforts.”

The Granite State News Collaborative and Partners will place in the following categories:

• Best Solutions Journalism Project - Granite State News Collaborative and Partners - Restorative Justice Project

• Best Solutions Journalism Project - Granite State News Collaborative Reporters - Remote Learning Progress Report

• Crime and Courts Reporting - Granite State News Collaborative Partners - Restorative Justice Project

• Education Reporting - GSNC Reporters - Remote Learning Progress Report

• Excellence in Newsroom Collaboration and Partnerships - Granite State News Collaborative Partners - Granite State News Collaborative Partners Covid Coverage

• Racial, Ethnic, or Gender Issue Coverage - Granite State News Collaborative and Partners - Race and Equity in New Hampshire

• Best Coverage of Coronavirus - Roberta Baker - Nursing home social life during COVID 

• Business/Economic Reporting - Roberta Baker - How to find New Hampshire's real estate bargains

• Health Reporting - Roberta Baker - Nursing assistant shortage worsened by COVID

The finalists will learn their actual place of finish - first, second, or third - at the New England Newspaper Convention, which will take place on Friday-Saturday, April 29-30, 2022, at the Boston Renaissance Waterfront Hotel.

Partners in The Granite State News Collaborative include: 603 Diversity, The Berlin Sun, Business NH Magazine, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, The Concord Monitor, The Conway Daily Sun, The Eagle Times, The Eagle-Tribune, The Keene Sentinel, The Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, The Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University, The Nashua Telegraph, NH Bar News, NH Business Review, New Hampshire Press Association, New Hampshire PBS, New Hampshire Public Radio, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Seacoast Media Group and The Valley News.  Community Partners include:  Citizens Count, NH Fiscal Policy Institute and NH Humanities. For more information visit collaborativenh.org