Phil Camp

The Vermont Standard president has fought tooth and nail to provide quality local journalism for our community during the past 44 years

In 1981, Phil Camp – who already had a distinguished career as a pioneering marketing and public relations professional in the ski industry — took a second mortgage on his house, borrowing $25,000 to partner with several others to purchase the struggling Vermont Standard newspaper.

Since then, the now 172-year-old paper:

converted from hot lead type to offset printing (the last newspaper in Vermont to do so) and desktop publishing

expanded its core coverage area from just two towns to eight

built a staff that features some of the strongest local news journalists in Vermont

assembled a lineup of contributing town correspondents and opinion columnists who help give the paper its unique local flavor

established a long-term commitment to assisting and publicizing local nonprofits. In fact, Phil used to hold free classes for employees of area nonprofits in his office, teaching them how to get their message out effectively, which he dubbed “Phil’s one-room schoolhouse.”

began publishing its Destination Vermont visitor guide

created an award-winning 24/7 local news website called Vermont Standard THIS WEEK, and an e-Edition that accounts for a substantial portion of the subscriber base.

established philanthropy as a critically important part of its revenue mix with an Annual Appeal to help ensure the Standard’s long-term viability

was named New England Newspaper of the Year among small weeklies in the six-state region a remarkable 7 times in the last eleven years

Although Phil has set the record as the Standard’s longest serving leader over the course of the past five decades, his association with the newspaper actually goes back even farther. He became the Standard’s first-ever sports editor on the day in 1952 when he wandered downstairs from his grandfather’s funeral home to the Vermont Standard offices, where he ran into then-owner Benton Dryden, who asked what he liked and didn’t like about the paper. At the time, 16-year-old Phil Camp pointed out the paper’s lack of coverage of his high school team. Dryden agreed and offered him the job on the spot.

Almost 30 years later, Phil seized an opportunity to give back to his community through the same vehicle that had given him his start. He sat the staff down on his first day of work at the Standard in 1981 – some of them had been there back when Phil was the teenage sports editor – and assured them that their paychecks would never bounce again.

Phil’s passion, character, leadership, and commitment to the Standard and his community have never been needed and more on display than on August 28-29, 2011, when Tropical Storm Irene flooded the Ottauquechee River and swamped the Standard with flash flood waters rising nearly six feet high inside the building. Arriving at the scene, Phil literally had to make the choice of trying to save equipment by loading it into the company’s delivery van, or just save the van. There was only time to choose the van.

The building’s contents and all of the equipment needed to produce that week’s paper and its visitor guide disappeared underwater. When the flood eventually receded, it left behind a foot of silt and mud, and it destroyed everything. Even the building itself was a total loss, which would wreak havoc with Phil’s financial future.

But unlike others in the community who lost their belongings and businesses, Phil had an added burden. The Standard had never missed publishing an edition during its 158 year history.

He and his staff got to work.

Within days, new computers were purchased, along with other essential equipment, and the staff began bringing picnic tables and folding chairs into a new office space. Unsolicited, readers brought food, water, and even furniture.

The Standard’s editor, freelance reporters, and the town correspondents sent in reports and photos, and they kept updating the community on the condition of roads, rivers, and utilities. Some of the correspondents were cut off electronically, so they brought their reports and pictures through woods and flooded areas on ATV to be picked up on passable roads.

The paper was indeed published that week with the front-page headline “We Shall Overcome.” With subscriber lists swamped by the flood, the Standard had no addresses for the locally mailed subscriptions. So, bundles of the newspaper were delivered to post offices in the area, and mail carriers delivered the Standard to subscribers on their routes from memory.

“How we responded to the Irene crisis was one of the most proud and rewarding experiences of my life,” Phil said.

The Standard regained its full strength, but then in 2018, a massive fire consumed the building in Woodstock where the Standard rented offices, causing more loss and disrupting operations for months. Of course, Phil’s Vermont Standard overcame that setback as well.

Although fire and flooding couldn’t keep the Standard down, the financial challenges the newspaper industry has faced in the past decade are even more daunting. Without the traditional flow of advertising revenue, the Standard has had to find other sources of funding if its mission of producing local journalism here is to endure.

During the past few years, Phil has been instrumental in helping to establish the nonprofit Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation, which is dedicated to ensuring that our community will always have quality local journalism.

The Vermont Standard has largely been Phil Camp’s labor of love for this place he’s lived in all his life, and for which he feels a deep sense of gratitude.

Phil says, “I made an implicit agreement with this community when I bought the Standard all those years ago that I’d increase the flow of information in our area and make sure its newspaper would be a source for good that positively affects people’s lives. I saw it as an opportunity to begin to repay the community that had provided me with the encouragement and support I needed while I was growing up in Woodstock as a youngster.”

Recently, he added, “Honestly, I’m more enthused than I’ve ever been. I only wish I were ten years younger!”