by Joan Tucker

Stockbridge Community News writers have, once again, been recognized by the National Federation of Press Women, this time in the 2025 At-Large competition.

As Nancy Wisman, vice president of the SCN Board, stated, “We are very proud of the writers we have who go the extra mile to produce our paper.” 

Mary Jo David, our editor-in-chief, went this extra mile by taking the time to submit a few well-written stories for the competition. Her October 2025 Woah Nellie column featuring “Pumpkin Crunch Cake” from an old community cookbook received first place in the Specialty Food category. One of the judges stated, “I laughed so hard, I cried.” She loved David’s writing style, which she said makes her want to follow the cooking instructions. Being a bit of a cook myself, I get inspired and occasionally make a Woah Nellie recipe, happy when it turns out well. As an At-Large first-place winner, David’s submission will be entered into the national NFPW competition later this year. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that she wins.

David’s name appears frequently in various types of articles for our newspaper. In the same contest, she received second place in the In-Depth Reporting category for an article entitled “Passing or not passing the public safety millage in Unadilla will come with a price tag.” Clearly, SCN is fortunate to have such a wonderful and talented writer.  Her hard work and creativity shines through all of her work. We are not even talking about the behind-the-scenes effort that goes into being the editor-in-chief.

And then there is Melissa McPherson, our newest volunteer writer, who has demonstrated her own talent as a thorough reporter in the In-Depth Reporting category. She earned a First Place for her November 2025 article titled, “Understanding changes to Stockbridge area transportation services: Making sense of the transportation alphabet soup.” In the lead-up to Melissa taking on this assignment, the SCN board recognized that many local readers would have a vested interest in this topic, including McPherson, who was a regular user of local transportation services.

The story was complex, requiring considerable research because it touched on transportation services across three counties. Not to mention, the time constraints for the story were daunting. But not surprisingly, McPherson did an excellent job researching and writing this article. The NFPW judges thought so too. One judge wrote that “[The article] does a very good job of breaking down the details so readers can understand what has happened…and what needs to happen in the future.” 

What a boon it has been to have McPherson on our writing team!

Congratulations to both David and McPherson. Your awards are well deserved. The SCN Board members are proud to have both of these writers on our team.