Blank Slate Media took home five awards from the Press Club of Long Island for headline writing, education reporting and community weekly newspaper Thursday during the 2024 Media Awards contest.

The publication, which distributes six weekly newspapers covering the North Shore of Nassau County, won second place in best headline, second and third place in best education reporting and second and third place in best community weekly newspaper.

“We’re striving to be the number one source of news and information in the communities that we cover and we want to provide a quality newspaper,” editor and publisher Steven Blank said. “It’s nice to get recognition from the press club, that they would recognize us in evaluating us against all the other newspaper groups on Long Island. I’m happy for our staff as well, who gain recognition because they’re very dedicated and they work very hard.”

Blank said the wins are evidence of the staff’s ability to produce quality work despite having fewer resources than large competitors like Newsday.

“It’s a testimony to our staff that we can excel with less and…within the limitations, we’re still able to produce an excellent newspaper,” he said.

Reporter Cameryn Oakes won second place for her headline “We are not on the menu” in the Great Neck News.

Her story, published in November 2023, reported on the work being done by a local coyote expert to educate the community on how to co-exist with the animals following an incident where a dog was attacked while on a walk.

The Manhasset Times won two education reporting awards: second place for “Manhasset office” and third place for “A Living Tradition: Two graduate students adapt a collective approach to preserving endangered languages.”

“We’re the only publication that’s covering the schools and the school districts as closely, which I think was reflected in the [coverage of] campaigns for school board members and budgets,” Blank said. “I think in a lot of cases, there is nobody else other than us attending these meetings and providing that information to people in the community.”

The Roslyn Times – with editorial staff Brandon Duffy, Oakes and Blank – won second place for best community weekly newspaper. The Manhasset Times – with editorial staff Duffy, Oakes and Blank – won third place for best community weekly newspaper.

Duffy and Oakes “both took on a tremendous workload because of their commitment to cover the communities and do a really good job,” Blank said. “It’s a reflection of their hard work that we won.”

The press club awards follow impressive wins at the New York Press Association Better Newspaper Contest last month when Blank Slate Media won eight state-wide awards and swept the top three places for the best column award.

Blank Slate Media began operation in 2010 with the purchase of three newspapers – the Great Neck News, New Hyde Park Herald-Courier and Williston Times.

The company later grew to six newspapers with the launch of the Manhasset Times, Roslyn Times and Port Washington Times.