BANGOR – The Bangor Daily News has earned several awards in writing and photography in a New England-wide newspaper competition, including a first and second place for its comprehensive coverage following an accident that killed 14 foreign workers in September 2002.

In all, NEWS staffers won two first-place awards, two second-place and one third, competing against newspapers with a circulation of more than 60,000 in the New England Associated Press News Executives Association competition. Competitors included the Providence (R.I.) Journal, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, and the Boston Herald.

NEWS Assistant Photo Editor Stephen M. Katz took first-place honors in the photo-story category for pictures published in November 2002 depicting the impact the deaths of woods workers had on their hometown in Honduras. Seven of the 14 men who died when their van overturned and plunged into the Allagash River on Sept. 12, 2002, came from the impoverished village of Santa Lucia.

A second-place honor also was awarded in the general news writing category for coverage of the accident, subsequent investigations and the tragedy’s effect on the state, particularly the forestry industry, which relies on imported labor. The writing award was shared by reporters Dawn Gagnon, Deborah Turcotte, Susan Young and Michelle M. Falck. The series of articles were published in September and October.

Photographer Gabor Degre won a first place in the feature photo category for his shot of a dog owner getting her pets out of a truck as she readied for the Can-Am Crown 250 sled dog race in Fort Kent last February.

Sports columnist John Holyoke won second place in the sports story category for his Oct. 12 piece about an 85-year-old hunter from Carmel who was anxious to return to the woods despite being hit by lightning.

Several stories published in March about the declining dairy industry in Maine netted reporter Sharon Kiley Mack a third-place award in the business and consumer news category.

The awards will be presented Friday, Oct. 10, during NEAPNEA’s fall conference in Springfield, Mass.