Phoenix staffers got quite a workout at Park Plaza on February 9, moving back and forth between chicken plates and the podium to collect their awards at the 2001 New England Press Association (NEPA) Better Newspaper Awards banquet. In all, the Phoenix Newspaper Group — which publishes in Boston, Providence, and Portland — won an impressive 46 awards. The heftiest of these was the George A. Speers Newspaper of the Year Award — given for "overall excellence and highest achievement in all classifications" — which the Boston Phoenix won for the fifth time in recent years. The Boston Phoenix was also awarded second place for General Excellence, while the Portland Phoenix received an honorable mention in the same category.

On the arts front, the Boston Phoenix was voted as having New England’s best Arts and Entertainment section, while film critic Peter Keough won first place for his story on the demise of the city’s historic movie theaters.

In news, Phoenix writers scored seven first-place prizes: Dan Kennedy in First Amendment Reporting, for, among other things, the Muzzle Awards, his annual report on press censorship; Camille Dodero got first place in General News, for her depiction of the ephedrine drug craze; Michelle Chihara scored top marks in Sports Writing, for her account of Total Kombat; and Dorie Clark came in ahead of the pack in Transportation/Commuter Reporting, for her piece on the lack of commuter service for minority areas.

Kristen Lombardi picked up two first-place awards — in Health Reporting, for her article on the financial hardships faced by cancer patients, and in Religious Reporting, for her story on efforts to force the Catholic Church to report child abuse — while also scoring a second-place award in Racial/Ethnic Issues for a piece on Colombian illegal immigrants, plus a couple of honorable mentions for General News and Business/Economic Reporting. In Providence, Ian Donnis won first-place accolades in Business/Economic Reporting, for his stories about the Providence Journal.

Meanwhile, Seth Gitell’s examination of the nation’s fragile economy earned him second place in Business/Economic Reporting. Dorie Clark won a second-place slot in Religious Reporting, for her piece on the dearth of Catholic seminarians, and Nina Willdorf made it a Phoenix sweep by taking third-place honors in the same category, for her investigation into Falun Gong in New England. Tinker Ready’s piece on Cambodian medicine earned her an honorable mention.

At the Providence Phoenix, Steven Stycos won second place for Business/Economic Reporting, while Kathleen Hughes earned an honorable mention for Education Reporting. In Portland, Loren King and Sam Smith won a joint third-place award for Social Issues Feature Story, while Noah Bruce and Tanya Wilton each picked up an honorable mention.

In Features, Chris Wright won first place in Human Interest Feature Story for his account of a gambling addiction, while Nina Willdorf’s profile of a rocking New York Times crossword-puzzle writer earned her a third-place award in the same category. Kris Frieswick’s pieces on thank-you notes and Boyfriend Roadshow won her a second-place award for Humor Columnist.

The Boston Phoenix’s photographers and illustrators held up their end, too, with first-place accolades going to Kevin Banks for Illustration and Flint Born for Pictorial Photo. Mark Ostow won first- and second-place prizes for Personality Photo, plus a third-place award for Feature Photo. Kathleen Dooher, meanwhile, landed honorable mentions for Personality Photo and Feature Photo. In Portland, Chad Verrill won second place for Illustration, and Mike Gorman got second place for Info Graphics.

The Portland Phoenix’s advertising guys scored big, with Nacona Fierro and Mark Sayer scooping first, second, and third places for the Sponsorship Page, while, individually, Mark Sayer picked up a first-place award for Local Advertising (black-and-white), and Nacona Fierro won second place for Local Advertising (color).

The webbies also went home happy, with the Boston Phoenix Web site, BostonPhoenix.com, picking up first place for Best Newspaper Web Site. And, last but not least, the Boston Phoenix won an honorable mention for Headline Writing.