BDN photojournalist’s series lauded

A Bangor Daily News photojournalist was among 10 awarded Publick Occurrences Awards for photojournalism during the spring publishers’ conference of the New England Newspaper Association.

Kevin Bennett was recognized Friday for his photos in “A Long Way from Home,” part of a series about a Lee, Maine, man trying to gain custody of his Texas grandson after the child’s mother was accused of killing the boy’s father.

Other recipients of the

Publick Occurrences Awards for photojournalism:

. Ariel Pietrello, Sun of Lowell, for “Chronicler of Catastrophe.”

. Amelia Kunhardt, Patriot Ledger of Quincy, for the “Sean Keller series.”

. Bradley Clift, Hartford Courant, for “The Crisis That’s Not Yet Over.”

. David Goldman, Boston Herald, for “Gaza Disengagement.”

. James Patterson, Valley News of West Lebanon, N.H., for “Tent City.”

. Bob Falcetti, Sunday Republican-American, Waterbury, Conn., for “Labor of Devotion.”

. John Freidah, Providence Journal, for “Block Island.”

. Gregory Rec, Portland Press Herald, for “Back to Iraq.”

. Dan Habib, Preston Gunnaway, Lori Duff, Danny Gawlowski, Javier Manzao and Elise Butler, Concord (N.H.) Monitor, for “Teen Life.”

Publick Occurrences Awards are named in honor of Publick Occurences Both Foreign and Domestick, the first newspaper published in the United States.

The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro was honored for photography and design.

Sun Chronicle photographer Mike George won the Best Single Photo of the Year award. George’s spot news photograph showed a firefighter cradling an infant after an accident in Attleboro and was titled, “Rollover – Car seats save tots.”

The Sun Chronicle also won the design award for its front page dealing with Hurricane Katrina coverage.

The contest was judged by members of the Louisiana Press Association, who said, “excellent blending of the national story with items of local import … The subhead ‘A desperate New Orleans slips into lawlessness…’ said it all very succinctly.”