WORCESTER, Mass. — The New England Outdoor Writers Association awarded the Press-Republican Outdoors Page “Best Outdoor Coverage by a Newspaper” at its annual meeting in Worcester, Mass.

Dennis Aprill, Press-Republican outdoors columnist, was there to receive the award.

Judging for the award is based on three submissions from three times of the year, because, contest Chairman Marc Folco said, “This way, the judges get a better feel for the year-round quality of the page.”

The association is primarily New England based but has members from neighboring states.

“This is a great honor for the paper and the outdoors page and credit goes a lot of places,” Aprill said.

“My thanks first go to Fran Betters for his weekly fishing column that has added so much to the variety found on this page.

“Nate Ovalle, the night editor, does an excellent job of setting up the photos and columns, and I can’t forget the readers who contribute excellent photos each week. It is definitely a group effort.”

Past winners include the Burlington Free Press, Rutland Herald and Norwich (Ct.) Bulletin.

This is the first time the Press-Republican outdoors page has been entered in the contest.