A 2017 award for Ruminations of a Geezerblockhead.com from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists said:

“Paul Willcott understands the beautiful specificity of things – his cat, his wood stove, his copy of the Times Literary Supplement, the articles in which are not always so beautifully specific. He writes about how a door may frame what lies beyond and how the clutter of our workspaces frames our lives as if autobiography is always captured in our peripheral vision. He writes about past battles with noisy radiators and current battles with noisy squirrels and noisy ghosts, though if ghosts they are, they are the ghosts of the nuns who once occupied the “erstwhile monastery” in which he lives, and their noise “angelic.” One thing a writer can do is create a life into which the reader can slip for just a while and think it would be pleasant to stay. That’s what Willcott does.”

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise column “View from the Porch” has won several awards, including:

2016 Distinguished Column Writing Award of Excellence from New York News Publishers Association

2016 New York Press Association Better Newspaper Contest third place award for “his story-telling style and his knack for finding a good story to tell.”