The New England Associated Press News Executives Association today announced the winners of their 2007 Web Contest - and the Telegraph won first place for Reader Engagement.

Translated that means the judges appreciated some of the initiatives we have been focused on for the past year or so, Forums, Blogs, Multimedia, TelegraphNeighbors.com etc.

We also won for best Entertainment Site for EncoreBuzz.com! We redesigned that site last year and just finished some updates and tweaks earlier this summer.

Having judged a fair number of similar contests, I tend to take a skeptical view. As with any creative endeavor, the judging is quite difficult and often very subjective. However, in this case it is obvious we were reviewed by judges of the highest quality, intelligence and perception. And we thank them!