Hedstrom earns first-place honor for sports news writing in newspaper contest

The Piscataquis Observer’s Stuart Hedstrom picked up top honors in the sports news writing category among the state’s smaller weekly publications from the Maine Press Association in the 2017 MPA Better Newspaper Contest on Oct. 21, during the organization’s annual awards banquet at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Event Center in Bar Harbor.

Hedstrom’s first-place award in the weekly one division is for his January story on retired boxer Ray Ciancaglini, who now shares the story of his own struggles in and out the ring through his The Second Impact Concussion Awareness program, and Ciancaglini’s presentation at Foxcroft Academy.

Journalists, editors and advertising representatives from other New England publications judged contest entries from weekly and daily newspapers throughout the state.

Observer file photo/Stuart Hedstrom
THANK YOU GLOVE — Retired boxer Ray Ciancaglini, who now shares the story of his own struggles in and out the ring through his The Second Impact Concussion Awareness program, gives a signed glove to Foxcroft Academy Athletic Trainer and Assistant Director of Athletics Jaclyn Tourtelotte at the end of his presentation in January at the school’s student center. The story on Ciancaglini and his presentation by the Piscataquis Observer’s Stuart Hedstrom earned first-place honors for sports news stories in the weekly one category of the Maine Press Association’s 2017 MPA Better Newspaper Contest.