Awards

Excellence Recognized. With the exception of 2024, the Rockaway Times has won awards in every New York Press Association "Better Newspaper Contest" since our inception. In 2026, our Editor Katie McFadden earned three first place awards.

First Place plaque for Kattie McFadden

Katie McFadden won her first-place awards for:

Feature Story
Headline Writing
Feature Photo

Judges’ comments on Katie’s work included, “McFadden’s headlines drew me in and made me want to read these stories.”

“A touching and inspiring story about the triumph of the human spirit!”

“In this category - it is more than just a ‘perfect’ picture… It must tell a story, it must be newsworthy, it must be genuine, and it must still have technical quality. Great job capturing this event.”

Krzysztof Koscikiewicz won first place for best Spot News photo.

The photo, by Krzysztof Koscikiewicz, captured an off-season ocean rescue in which an NYPD helicopter was lowering a rescue diver. In the comments, the judge said, “I love this photo. The fact that you can make out the flippers on the person dangling from the helicopter tells you it’s a water rescue, even though the water isn’t in the shot."

Rockaway Times