The Mount Desert Islander, commenced publication in Bar Harbor in 2001.Its sister weekly, The Ellsworth American has been published continuously in Ellsworth, Maine since 1851.  Together, these two newspapers reach some 14,750 families, primarily in Hancock County. Fifty percent of these families purchase their newspapers weekly in area stores and the remainder have their newspapers delivered either to their home via the U.S. Postal Service or to their computer via digital delivery. The newspapers offer paid-only delivery; in other words, there is no free online newspaper website for either newspaper.
EllsworthAmerican.com and MDIslander.com, our online newspapers, enjoy 35,000 visits each week. In addition to the websites, which are updated daily, there is access to the digital edition of the news papers as well as an online business directory, an extensive calendar of events, obituaries and classified advertising.
The Ellsworth American has been named best large weekly newspaper by the Maine Press Association three of the past five years, by the New England Newspaper and Press Association four of the past five years and was named second best in the nation by the National Newspaper Association in 2010. In the past five years, The Mount Desert Islander has been named best small weekly in Maine four times, best in New England three times and best in the nation twice.
Commercial printing customers include seven other weekly newspapers in Downeast Maine, as well as a number of monthly newsletters for businesses and nonprofits, including the Ellsworth and Bangor Chambers of Commerce, Friends of Maine Hockey and Ellsworth and MDI YMCAs.
