‘The Riverdale Press’ takes home 25 awards

The Riverdale Press had a stellar week, winning more than two-dozen state and national awards for its editorial and photographic content.

The paper took home 14 awards in the New York Press Association’s 2012 Better Newspaper Contest, which welcomes entries from community newspapers across the state, and won 11 awards in the Local Media Association Editorial Contest, open to papers nationwide.

Riverdale Press photo editor Marisol Díaz was named Photographer of the Year at the New York Press Association’s annual Spring Conference, held in Saratoga Springs this past weekend.

In awarding her one of the association’s top individual prizes, judges praised Ms. Díaz ’s “eye-catching images,” “technical proficiency” and her “ability to get close to her subjects.”

They also commended the variety of photographs offered in her portfolio, which included a moment of fun on the Little League field, the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, the grimacing face of an alleged murderer being taken into custody and the painful embrace between a grieving mother whose son was killed on a Riverdale street and another relative.

In creating her portfolio, she said, “I tried to give a variety of who I was and what the community was that year to tell the story.”

A graduate of City University of New York and Bronx Community College, Ms. Díaz joined The Press in January 2012, after spending 11 years as the program director at the non-profit organization En Foco.

Although her background is in fine art photography, her list of photojournalism accolades is growing. In addition to Photographer of the Year, Ms. Díaz  also took home first-place awards for spot news and best use of photos on the Web, as well as third place for picture story.

In total, the association put The Riverdale Press — a division of Richner Communications — in the number-three spot for most prizes out of the 150 newspapers across the state that submitted entries.