Michael Reistetter, a 2017 Journalism alumnus of Mount Saint Mary College, recently won first place in the New York Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest in the category of Best Elections/Political Coverage for his piece “Former Santos Staffer Speaks Out to the Messenger” in the Smithtown Messenger.
Smithtown Messenger is the official newspaper of Suffolk County, N.Y.
The award-winning article can be found here: https://messengerpapers.com/2023/02/former-santos-staffer-speaks-out-to-the-messenger/
“Thank you to the New York Press Association Awards for the honor and recognition, to the readers who spread this piece far beyond what I could have ever envisioned, and to all the mentors over the course of my career/life who’ve helped put me in this position,” said Reistetter in a post on LinkedIn.
He added, “Thank you to…my college newspaper advisor and professor Regina Pappalardo for teaching me everything I know about long-form, narratively-scoped, ethically sound journalism.”
Pappalardo, associate professor of Journalism at the Mount, teaches courses in journalism, magazine writing, writing for mass media, writing for digital media, public relations, integrated marketing and communication and qualitative research practices. Prior to entering academia, Professor Pappalardo had a 12-year career in journalism and in-house public relations.