The Acton Bridge honored for top-notch reporting, leadership

Congratulations, Acton: You have an award-winning local newspaper. 

The Acton Bridge received multiple honors at the 2025 New England Newspaper & Press Association awards.

The Bridge received a prestigious Publick Occurrences award for its yearlong “Milestone 250” multimedia project, which documented Acton’s preparation for, and celebration of, the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution. 

The awards, named for the first newspaper published in America, recognize the year’s most outstanding journalism.

“This massive undertaking by a young, local digital-and-print publication features exhaustive reporting and an excellent array and presentation of stories and art,” the judges wrote of The Bridge’s team project, which was bookended by special print keepsake editions and culminated in round-the-clock live coverage of Patriots Day. 

“The series is well-written and well-edited. The story choices are exceptional, and the mix of stories and photos is attention-grabbing,” the judges said. “The read is enjoyable, entertaining, and educational.”

‘A huge undertaking’

Acton Bridge CEO Maile Hulihan called it “gratifying to have our special coverage recognized as among the best work produced by newspapers in the six states that are represented in the New England Newspaper & Press Association.”

Hulihan said that “amid the demands of producing a weekly newspaper still in startup mode, it was a huge undertaking to commit our small staff” to the yearlong project. 

But, she said, Editor-in-Chief Celeste Katz Marston knew the work the town and its volunteers put into marking the 250th “was emblematic of Acton’s community spirit and central to its identity as a bastion of democracy.” 

“She wanted to do it justice, bringing together staff, freelancers, photographers, and illustrators to tell the story of the preparations and present live coverage of the daylong celebrations that drew 70,000 visitors to town. And she did.”

The Acton Bridge’s Milestone 250 team included Dakota Antelman, Stephen Beyer, Kim Carpenter, Margaret Carroll-Bergman, Victor Curran, Jean Fain, Peter Farago, Laura Hayes, Alan Lightman, Celeste Katz Marston, Gabriel Martins, Ken McGagh, Laurie O’Neill, Trace Salzbrenner, Christine Quirk, Rob Reinalda, Erin Tiernan, Felicity Zhang, and Sarafina Zhang.

The Cornerstone Award

Hulihan herself received NENPA’s second-ever Cornerstone Award, which honors “unsung heroes in our news organizations who meaningfully and significantly contribute to the accomplishments of our publications.”

In her nomination essay, Katz Marston noted that Hulihan came out of semi-retirement at the request of The Bridge’s non-profit board last year, using her unique background in both the editorial and financial sides of publishing to help the newspaper update its revenue model, develop its editorial staff, and lay the groundwork for long-term sustainability.  

“Concerned, good-hearted, generous pillars of our community had founded this newspaper, but making it a sustainable, next-level publication was going to require special experience,” Katz Marston wrote.

The new CEO “showed herself able to advise or pinch-hit on every job at The Bridge, and that is true today,” she continued. “The range of what Maile may tackle in a single day or week is astonishing. She is in actual fact the cornerstone of our operation.”

Newsroom appointments

The double honors came just ahead of The Bridge’s celebration of the third anniversary of its launch in October 2022 and shortly after several important updates to the masthead: 

• Katz Marston, who joined The Bridge in July 2023 as news editor and became managing editor last year, was formally promoted to editor-in-chief in April, overseeing all print and digital editorial operations. 
• With the retirement of Quirk as deputy editor, Reinalda advanced from copy editor to managing editor, deftly handling staff, freelance, and volunteer contributor writing.
• Carpenter was promoted to production manager, adding oversight of The Bridge’s website to her existing work as layout artist for all print editions and the newspaper’s in-house graphic designer. 
• Salzbrenner has joined The Bridge as its community reporter, with coverage spanning features, education, and public safety. 

“I could not be more thrilled that our small but mighty team at The Acton Bridge went from a startup to an award-winning weekly news source for Acton in just three years,” said Board President Alice Kaufman.   

“I want to thank our benefactors and supporters who believed in us even before the first issue was in print,” Kaufman said. “We continue to grow with pride as a reliable, non-partisan source of local information vital to our community.”