Richard Reston, president of the board of directors at the Vineyard Gazette, has announced changes in the editor and publisher positions at the newspaper. Mr. Reston, a longtime editor and publisher of the Gazette, will resume his role as newspaper publisher.

Julia Wells, who has been the lead writer on the paper for 20 years and a resident of the Vineyard for 30 years, takes over as the new editor of the Vineyard Gazette.

The change in leadership at the newspaper is effective immediately.

Ms. Wells, who is 52, has had a 30-year career in journalism that began on the Vineyard in 1973 when she took a job as a correspondent for the New Bedford Standard Times. Her earliest mentor was the late Harvey Ewing, the former Vineyard bureau chief for the New Bedford Standard Times and the Cape Cod Times.

In 1975 the New Bedford Standard Times switched its Vineyard circulation to the Cape Cod Times, and Ms. Wells became a staff writer for the daily paper, covering local government and writing feature stories.

In 1984 she was hired as a reporter at the Gazette, and she was eventually named senior writer. She has won numerous awards over the years from the New England Press Association for her work, including awards for community service, education reporting, environmental reporting, business writing and investigative reporting.

"Julia Wells is a superb journalist with professional and personal roots shaped by the life of the Vineyard and grounded in her enduring commitments to this special Island community, her home for more than 30 years. She understands the rhythms of Island life and the principles that underlie distinguished community journalism," Mr. Reston said.

"She will make a fine editor of the Vineyard Gazette. Ms. Wells has covered every aspect of this community, from the great debates that will guide the future of the Vineyard to the small, everyday events that govern the lives of Island citizens," Mr. Reston said. "Ms. Wells has not only my full confidence and support as she assumes editorial leadership of the Vineyard Gazette, but also that of the newspaper's entire board of directors," he concluded.

"I am thrilled and honored to take the helm at the Gazette and I look forward to continuing a long tradition of journalistic excellence at the community paper which I love and which has been the paper of record on the Vineyard for 158 years," Ms. Wells said.

Mr. Reston and Ms. Wells replace John Walter, who was the editor and publisher at the Gazette for 15 months.