North Babylon Teachers Organization, led by President Pam Katz, is a perennial winner in the statewide union's journalism competition.
At the Thursday journalism luncheon, North Babylon captured The Ted Bleecker Award, "The Best of the Best," which went to the local for its publication Partners in Education.
Editor Patricia Caraway accepted the award, which is named after Bleecker, founder of New York Teacher.
The Solidarity Award was a tie this year, going to The Answer, the newsletter of Bay Shore Classroom Teachers Association, and Clarion, the publication of the Professional Staff Congress, representing faculty and professional staff at the City University of New York.
The award recognizes ties between the work of locals and national affiliates to combat what NYSUT's director of communications, Deb Ward, called "the anti-union animus out there everywhere."
A full list of winners is on the NYSUT Web site. Awards ranged from feature and column writing to general excellence and best Web site.
"Your ability to get your political message across depends on your ability to get the message out," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi, himself a past award-winner as a columnist for the Central Islip TA newsletter.