Twelve months ago, our editorial board unveiled Focus 2011, six issues that we felt were deserving of extra attention entering the new year. As such, they became common themes not only on our Opinion pages, but on our news pages as well.

Here, then, is a look back at the first three of those priority issues. We’ll reflect on the other half Wednesday.

? New Hampshire Advantage: Entering last year, we posed a simple question: Given the national recession and the state’s well-publicized budget woes, is New Hampshire losing its so-called advantage as a place to do business?

In an attempt to answer that question, The Telegraph published a five-day series called "The State of the New Hampshire Advantage," which opened Nov. 13 with an examination of how well the state was doing attracting new businesses.

Later stories addressed the long-term impact of budgets cuts to higher education, the state’s tax burden and the role of "The Pledge," the future of the presidential primary, the low crime rate and personal freedom.

The series culminated with a panel discussion hosted by The Telegraph and the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce. Moderated by reporter Michael Brindley, participants included Christopher Williams, president and CEO of the chamber; Michael Bergeron, business development manager for the state Division of Economic Development; Fred Kocher, president of the New Hampshire High Technology Council; and Charlie Arlinghaus, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.

The series ended with an editorial that concluded: "While the New Hampshire advantage means different things to different people, whatever it is, it appears we’ve still got it."

? Education reform: We took a similar approach back in April with a four-day series titled "Innovation & Reform: A Community Discussion on Education." This series examined the impact of technology and innovation in the classroom, charter schools, merit pay and teacher tenure, and learning opportunities outside of the classroom.

Like the New Hampshire Advantage project, this series wrapped up with a panel discussion hosted by The Telegraph and the Nashua School District in the media room of Nashua High School South. Moderated by The Telegraph, the forum was attended by about 100 people.

We also threw our support behind the creation of a district-sponsored charter school, which is now in the early planning stages. Independent of that effort, we reported earlier this month that two Nashua parents are putting the finishing touches on an application to the state Board of Education to open the Gate City Charter School for the Arts in the fall of 2013.

? Graying of New Hampshire: While we fell short of our original goal to publish a series and host a public forum on this topic, we did take great interest in the latest U.S. Census Bureau data that showed New Hampshire’s median age of 41.1 was now the fourth-highest in the country, right behind Maine (42.7), Vermont (41.5) and West Virginia (41.3).

We also brought attention this past fall to the release of "Silver Tsunami: Aging and the Health Care System," an alarming report by the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies that found the graying of the population – combined with the difficulty in attracting young people – is expected to result in a major boost in state health care spending.

Coming Wednesday: Our assessment of commuter rail, open government and civility in politics in 2011.