John D'Agostino

The OBSERVER has won three New York State Associated Press awards.

Winners of the 2017 New York State Associated Press Association annual newspaper and broadcast contests were announced over the weekend in Saratoga Springs. John D’Agostino, OBSERVER publisher, won two awards, while former sports reporter Jared Hill won one award.

D’Agostino won second place for Best Column for his weekly “Publisher’s Notebook.” Sample entries included a piece on Marc Ruckman when he decided to step down as a Fredonia trustee; a piece on local businessman Dick Golden as he neared retirement from selling TVs; and a piece on the Hispanic Community Council of Chautauqua County helping Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The judges’ comments were as follows: “Interesting reads from a topic standpoint. One of the best in the competition at being a local voice about local things.”

D’Agostino also won third place for Best News Full Page Design for the front page of the Sept. 30 edition, when it was announced Brooks Memorial Hospital would be relocating to the town of Pomfret. The judges comments stated, “Clean, simple design that makes the stories easy to read.”

This was D’Agostino’s first writing award and third page design award from the Associated Press. He’s also won two page design awards from the New York News Publishers Association.

Hill won third place in the Best Feature or Sports Full Page Design for the Nov. 10 sports opener page, previewing the Dunkirk-Fredonia Steelers hockey season. It was his first Associated Press award.

There are four categories in the statewide contest. The OBSERVER competes in the Division I Under 75,000 Weekly Circulation category, the largest category in the competition.

Since 2000, the OBSERVER has won 15 Associated Press Awards.

John D’Agostino

Jared Hill