When we were younger, adults were constantly complaining how quickly time was going by. We didn’t understand it then – the weeks leading up to summer vacation, Christmas, and birthdays moved slower than molasses in January – but we definitely do now.
Compiling the year in review with headlines from 52 editions of 2025 helped illustrate this point. There are some stories that we could swear we just published a few weeks ago, only to learn they ran in March. Before looking back, we were convinced the process of approving and validating Jefferson’s education budget took about six weeks. Upon inspection, we were reminded that those three votes took up six months. (We’re sure this is not news to Jefferson residents or members of the town’s school committee.)
There’s a reason hindsight is 20/20. It’s difficult to measure progress when you’re in the middle of it; it’s only when you’re reflecting on the accomplishment that you can see just how far you’ve gone.
While we’ve logged a couple major accomplishments – kicking off 150 years of publishing the newspaper and upgrading our subscription and advertising management software, for example – there are some more routine achievements that are just as worthy of recognition.
In addition to producing and printing the LCN, we crafted five issues of the award-winning Lincoln County Magazine as well as five special sections.
We collected 22 awards in the 2025 Maine Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, with honors for writing, photography, advertisements, editorial cartoons, graphic design, and more.
Another year has lead to a complete change of the reporting staff. We have been fortunate to have some great people join the staff here at the newspaper, and are excited to build off this foundation.
All of items mentioned above, as well as the day-to-day accomplishments, would not be possible without our dedicated employees who pour their heart and soul into this community. Some businesses and organizations work toward long-term milestones and can take a breather when one has been met. Each week, we must hit the target of producing one paper, only to have the next one in the queue. This tends to compound the time-flying-by analogy.
As newspapers and community reporting continue to decline across the country, we remain committed to bringing the stories of Lincoln County to life each week.
From all of us at The Lincoln County News, we hope you and yours head into the new year with good health, ambitious goals, and the support to accomplish them.
Thank you for the support this year, we look forward serving you in 2026.
