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BOSTON — The Connecticut Examiner’s Emilia Otte was named “Rookie of the Year” at the annual meeting of the New England Newspaper and Press Association on Saturday, one of 18 awards taken home by CT Examiner, an online newspaper startup that began publishing just three years ago from its home in Old Lyme, CT. Two years ago the award was given to Alex Putterman of the Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously operated newspaper in the United States.
The New England Newspaper and Press Association is the professional trade organization for more than 450 newspapers in the six-state region: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island.
Gregory Stroud, who is editor in chief of CT Examiner, praised Otte for her work ethic, collegiality and her ability to develop sources and break a difficult investigative story on the Old Saybrook Police Department after just four months on her first job.
Since she joined CT Examiner in 2020, Otte has reported regularly on health and education issues at the state and local level in Connecticut.
Otte also took home four more awards for her reporting on History, Health, Science and Technology, Race and Ethnic issues.
In addition, reporter Brendan Crowley won five awards for his reporting on Climate Change, the Environment, Government and Science and Technology, including a second place award for his reporting on Tropical Storm Isaias.
Julia Werth took home two awards for Environmental Reporting and for a Social Issues Feature Story that reported on a steep drop in adoptions in Connecticut during the pandemic.
Cate Hewitt, who is deputy editor at CT Examiner, won three awards for Arts & Entertainment Reporting, Local Personality Profile and for Business/Economic Reporting,
Anna Elizabeth earned an award for Crime and Courts Reporting, for “A Year Without Jury Trials.”
Stroud also won awards for Editorial Writing and for CT Examiner’s food writing.
The newspaper startup, which is expecting to launch an all-new website at the start of June before launching a subscription model, already boasts a monthly readership of over 120,000.
