NORWAY — A.M. Sheehan, who is the editor of the Advertiser-Democrat, has been appointed the managing editor for all of Sun Media Group’s Western Maine weekly newspapers.

Sheehan, who was named Maine Journalist of the Year by the Maine Press Association in 2012, is an award-winning journalist whose work earned the weekly Norway newspaper a George Polk Award in 2011 for its reporting on Section 8 rental housing in the Oxford Hills. The work was also named a finalist for the Michael Kelly Award in 2012 and a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in local reporting.

She was also awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism from The Journalism Center on Children & Families, a center focused on deepening media coverage on issues that affect children, youth and families.

The Advertiser Democrat is the oldest weekly newspaper in Maine.

Sheehan, who has been a journalist for 34 years, served as editor of the Norway paper from 2009 to 2013, and left to serve as the managing editor of the Journal Scene in Summerville, South Carolina, and then as executive editor of three weekly newspapers in Georgetown, South Carolina.

In 2015, Sheehan returned to Maine and reassumed the position as editor of the Advertiser Democrat.

In addition to the AD, Sheehan will now manage the Bethel Citizen, The Rumford Falls Times, The Franklin Journal, the Livermore Falls Advertiser, The Rangeley Highlander and The Penobscot Times in Old Town.

“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to work with an amazing and strong team of editors and reporters to cover Western Maine and its diverse communities,” Sheehan said.

Judith Meyer, executive editor of the Sun Journal and Sun Media Group’s weekly newspapers, said “Anne is tremendously talented and has a real passion for community journalism. Under her leadership, the Advertiser Democrat has been a news leader, and she’ll bring that same level of excellence to all of Sun Media Group’s weekly newspapers.”

From 1986-96, Sheehan was the executive editor of The Chatham Courier in Chatham, New York, where her “Childhood Lead Poisoning” series was recognized by the American Chiropractic Association with its Distinguished Health Journalism Bronze Award. Following that, the New York City Department of Health incorporated the series in its in-house training.

Sheehan has also worked as the business manager for the Yale University Office of Public Affairs, bureau chief of The Register Star in Hudson, New York, drama director of peer education for Girls Inc. in Massachusetts, editor of Kitchenware News in Yarmouth, Maine, and editor of the Dover Community News in New Hampshire.

Between 2003 and 2009, Sheehan left journalism to teach drama full-time in the United Kingdom.

Sheehan lives in Bridgton. She has three children and four grandchildren.