Rochester Voice wins two NHPA awards for crime reporting, editorial writing

Rochester Voice editorial that won second place

MANCHESTER - The Rochester Voice took home two awards at the New Hampshire Press Association Distinguished Journalism Awards banquet held Thursday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm's College in Manchester.

The Voice won second place in editorial writing and a third place in crimes/court reporting.

The crime/courts entry, "The Farmington Murders," chronicled the horrific 2017 double slaying of two women in Farmington by Timothy Verrill, who was sentenced to two consecutive 45-years-to-life prison sentences in May of 2024 following an earlier mistrial.

"This was a terrifying story that described the horrors of these murders in a straightforward way, yet still got across the atrocity of it," one of the judges said. "I liked that the author spoke to witnesses who added a real touch of drama -- and tragedy -- to the story."

The judge in the editorial writing entry commented on one of five submitted editorials, in which editor Harrison Thorp described how a City of Rochester attorney threatened Thorp with arrest after he refused to leave an open meeting at City Hall on New Hampshire's Right to Know law.

"Did you hear the one about an editor being threatened with arrest by city officials for trying to cover a public meeting related to the Right to Know Law?" the judge quipped. "Best of a strong collection of local editorials."

The two awards were the 16th and 17th won by The Rochester Voice in the six years it has been an NHPA member.

"I am humbled and honored that The Rochester Voice won these two awards," said Thorp. "I am also thankful for our thousands of readers who support The Voice and its mission to cover Rochester news fairly, objectively and without bias."

"Our readers are what drives us to give the city of Rochester the coverage it deserves," added Rochester Voice President Martha T, Soto.