The Vineyard Gazette has received a Publick Occurrences award from the New England Newspaper and Press Association (NENPA) for its coverage of the Schifter house move on Chappaquiddick.

The award, presented at the NENPA fall conference Thursday, recognizes outstanding journalism for a series of stories written by Gazette reporter Sara Brown and accompanied by photographs by Ray Ewing.

Judges cited the paper’s extensive reporting on coastal erosion, careful documentation of the massive engineering effort to move the Schifter house away from an eroding coastline and the “stunning photography.”

The Publick Occurrences award was established in 1990 to recognize individual and team merit at New England newspapers. It is named for the first newspaper published in America in 1690 and suppressed after four days by the royal governor.

The Gazette was one of three weekly newspapers to receive a Publick Occurrences award. The others were the Newtown Bee in Newtown, Conn., and the Providence Business News in Providence, R.I.

The Ellsworth American, a weekly newspaper published in Ellsworth, Me., was named weekly Newspaper of the Year by the press association, whose membership includes small dailies and weeklies throughout New England.