Martha’s Vineyard Magazine gleaned eight awards at the New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA) convention held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, over the weekend, including four first-place finishes. This year marks the first time the magazine has entered the NENPA contest.

Photographer Ray Ewing led the pack with a first place award for his image of glass blower Wil Sideman in the category of Best Personality Photo. (Ray was also named Photographer of the Year by the New England Newspaper & Press Association.) Connie Berry and McKinley Sanders won first place honors for their special edition magazine on the fiftieth anniversary of Jaws. Writer Thomas Humphrey brought home a first place award for his story, Long Journey Home, about repatriating Wampanoag remains, and writer Dan Jackson won first place for his story about the history of the Island’s deaf community, The Deaf Enclave Heard Around the World.

The magazine garnered three second place awards: Emma Kilbride’s story Wil Sideman’s Art of Glass in the Arts & Entertainment Reporting category, Ethan Genter for Environmental Reporting for his story An Island Epidemic, and Joe Keenan in the Local Personality Profile category for The Arrowhead Odyssey. Rounding out the awards was Brooke Kushwaha’s third place finish in the Business/Economic Reporting category for her story Last Call.