Brendan and Felicity Lowe, from Philadelphia, catch a glimpse of the start of the eclipse on April 8, 2024 at the James C. Sheffield Olympic Speedskating Oval in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

SARANAC LAKE — The Adirondack Daily Enterprise won four awards in the New York News Publishers Association’s 2024 Awards for Excellence competition, announced on Wednesday.

The Enterprise won awards for beat reporting, sports writing, state government coverage and multi-advertiser pages, all in the “under 10,000” circulation class.

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Distinguished Beat Reporting

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Aaron Marbone, Elizabeth Izzo, Sydney Emerson and Parker O’Brien took first in this category for their coverage of the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse and the planning leading up to it.

The Tri-Lakes area was directly in the path of totality and Enterprise reporters spent weeks leading up to the event writing stories on hotel rooms booking up, the expected weather for the day, prime viewing locations, explaining what the eclipse is astronomically, how to take photos of the eclipse, how emergency service members were preparing for the influx of visitors for the event, local students getting eclipse glasses and how local amateur radio operators would compete during the event to provide data to NASA.

Reporters covered eclipse-viewing gatherings in each town, with stories from the people who traveled from other countries to see it, interviews with amateur and professional astronomers, coverage of birthday celebrations and marriage proposals at peak totality and lots of photos of people looking at the sky.

Afterwards, there were stories on the estimated number of people who traveled here for the event and how to dispose of eclipse glasses.

Submissions in this category were judged on their ability to demonstrate “sustained and knowledgeable coverage of a particular subject or activity of local interest.”

“When a rare natural event, like a total solar eclipse, is known to be coming, this is how a daily newspaper covers it,” the judges wrote.

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Distinguished Sports Writing

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O’Brien took first in this category for his coverage of 15-year-old Lake Clear native Ashlyn Snyder’s burgeoning rodeo career in “Local to take on major rodeo event.”

Submissions in this category were judged on their ability to demonstrate “effective coverage of the people, institutions or trends in the local sports community employing thorough, thoughtful, fair and resourceful reporting as well as quality writing.”

“What a terrific young athlete! It’s impossible not to root for 15-year-old Ashlyn Snyder of Lake Clear in the Adirondacks,” the judges wrote. “She has the enthusiasm and dedication of a champion. The fact that her sport is rodeo, which has a minuscule hoofprint where she lives and takes her to the national competitions in Wyoming, makes this story all the more inspiring.”

To read this story, go to tinyurl.com/n98cyxt5.

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Distinguished State Government Coverage

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Emerson took first in this category for her uncovering of a contract between the town of North Elba and the state Olympic Regional Development Authority allowing ORDA to operate the town’s Olympic venues, which had been expired since at least 2007. This story led the town and ORDA to forge a new agreement with more specific language on the annual payment and a new commission liaison between the public and the two bodies.

Submissions in this category were judged on their ability to demonstrate “effective newspaper coverage of state government as manifested in service to the community; skillful investigative reporting and excellence in writing style, editing, display and other pertinent criteria.”

“Sydney Emerson’s watchdog reporting shines a harsh light on the lack of clarity, transarency and fairness involving a valuable but expired contract with ORDA, a powerful state authority, for management of three town-owned Olympic facilities,” the judges wrote. “Emerson’s work manifests the role of journalism in exposing how convoluted the inner workings of government can be.”

To read “Questions arise over ORDA, town contract,” go to tinyurl.com/4s7a6y2e. To read “Lake Placid Sports Council chair resigns,” go to tinyurl.com/52ep935m.

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Best Multi-Advertiser Page

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Susan Moore took first in this category for her “10 ways to say I love you” Valentine’s Day ad page which features romantic deals from stores around the region, each within their own heart design.

Submissions in this category were judged on their uniqueness and overall layout.

“Not your usual Valentine’s Day page,” the judges wrote. “Very eye catching. I found myself reading each of the offers.”