ALBANY – The New York Newspaper Publishers Association (NYNPA) announced the winners of its 2011-2012 Awards for Excellence competition Wednesday, April 10 at its Continuing Excellence Banquet held in the State Room in Albany.

The Evening Sun won the award for Distinguished Sports Writing for “The Sixth Man,” by Patrick Newell in the under 10,000 circulation class. The Sixth Man was a column written by Newell, Sun Sports Editor since Aug. 1995, following the Norwich boys basketball team’s emotional sectional championship victory in March, 2012.

“Patrick has been an integral part of our team for nearly two decades and his coverage of local sports news is vital to the success of this newspaper,” said Brian Golden, managing editor at The Evening Sun. “This award is well-deserved and we are extremely proud of Patrick.”

The annual contest recognizes journalistic excellence among the association’s member newspapers, and contest judges selected winners from 566 entries submitted by 37 New York State daily newspapers in 16 traditional print and three online categories.

Winning entries in the Distinguished Sports Writing category demonstrated quality and clarity in writing, originality, and local appeal. The NYNPA state award was Newell’s second as sports editor of The Evening Sun.

“I want to thank Norwich coach Tom Collier, whose honesty and humility allowed me to tell this great story,” Newell said. “It’s a great honor to be recognized side by side with some of the best newspaper writers in New York State.”

NORWICH – With the departure of long-time Managing Editor Jeff Genung, reporter Brian Golden was asked to step in as The Evening Sun’s Interim Managing Editor. This allowed all parties concerned the time and the opportunity to review our options for permanently filling this position.

As such, I am pleased to announce that – upon review – we have offered this position to Brian and he has accepted his new role as Managing Editor of The Evening Sun. All of us involved feel that Brian is an excellent choice with the skill, drive and dedication necessary to build upon the great foundation laid by his predecessors.

I’m sure that I join with the rest of the community in wishing Brian and his staff continued successes as a new era in the 122 year history of The Evening Sun begins. – Richard Snyder, President of The Evening Sun