The Hub has won the prestigious Stuart & Beverly Awbrey Award for Distinguished Public Service by a community newspaper from the New Jersey chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for the year 2002.
The award was presented to the newspaper for its coverage of a controversial plan by the National Park Service to grant a 60-year lease to a private developer for use of at least 36 buildings at Fort Hancock in the Sandy Hook unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area.
Stories by staff writer Gloria Stravelli throughout the year kept readers of the newspaper informed of every new nuance in the unfolding drama.
They were bolstered by editorials written by Lindsey Siegle, the managing editor of the newspaper, citing the detrimental impact of the proposed development on the fragile environment and future of this unique park.
The plaque, presented to the newspaper at the SPJ awards ceremony Saturday at the Bloomberg news offices in Plainsboro, cited The Hub "for vigorous and sustained coverage that alerted its community to federal plans for commercial development at one of the region’s most prized natural refuges, the national park at Sandy Hook."
The award is named for Stuart and Beverly Awbrey who published the Cranford Chronicle for 10 years. It was created to recognize journalistic efforts that draw attention to important community issues, aid community decision-making or inspire action.
Stravelli also won the society’s top award for feature writing in a weekly paper for a profile of a local scientist working on the use of vegetable oil for fuel.
In addition to those awards, Greater Media photographers Farrah Maffai and Chris Kelly received SPJ’s first- and second-place awards, respectively, for spot news photography in weekly newspapers.
"I’ve been very proud of our staff’s accomplishments in numerous state and national contests this year, and I’m happy with our showing in the SPJ contest as well," said Gregory Bean, executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers, which publishes The Hub. "I’m particularly proud of the Awbrey Award for Public Service because of the prestige of the organization’s honor and the fact that our peers in the state have recognized the outstanding work done by reporter Gloria Stravelli on this important and historic subject."
The Hub is one of 10 weekly newspapers published by Greater Media Newspapers Inc. that cover Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties.