2014 BNC Booklet

MESSAGE

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

It’s wonderful to once again honour the great work of Ontario’s Community Newspapers — and this year OCNA members did a lot of great work. We received over 1,850 amazing entries for the 2014 Better Newspapers Competition, all of which were not only a credit to the reporters, photographers, designers, editors and publishers behind them, but also to the industry as a whole.

However, competitions like ours are more than just recognizing great work and securing bragging rights, they are excellent opportunities to learn from the best and the brightest of our industry. I can’t think of a single awards gala I’ve attended where I didn’t come back with at least one great idea for something to try in my papers.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without three very important groups: the judges, the sponsors and the OCNA staff.

As a judge myself, I know the time and dedication it takes to go through a category’s worth of stories, photos, ads or newspapers. While the process can be quite fun, it’s often done during evenings or weekends outside of normal working hours. Without that willingness on the part of our judges to freely give of themselves and share their wisdom about newspapers, events like the Better Newspapers Competition would not exist. Thank you.

We would also not be able to hold our annual awards without the generosity of our sponsors. Their donations are what make it possible for OCNA to properly reward the best work our industry has to offer. Your continued support is greatly appreciated by all Better Newspapers Competition participants.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the OCNA staff for their dedication and hard work. Having worked in the association office at awards time, I know just how much is involved in making things run smoothly year after year. You all deserve an award from the membership.

Congratulations to all the winners, and I look forward to seeing all the great work that you’ll be doing in 2015 at our next gala in April 2016.

Gordon Cameron President Ontario Community Newspapers Association

GENERAL EXCELLENCE

GENERAL EXCELLENCE classes 1 - 8

Judges

Rob Vogt Editor

Claresholm Local Press

Claresholm, AB

Keith McNeill Editor

Clearwater-North Thompson Times Clearwater, BC

Jordie Dwyer Editor

Athabasca Advocate

BARRY’S BAY, THE VALLEY GAZETTE

The Valley Gazette of Barry’s Bay is a newsy newspaper, which is why it won first place. One gets the feeling that if anything of significance happens in any of the communities covered, the Gazette will be there to tell the story. Writing, photography, advertising and production values were all strong. The front page is a bit busy – with ads top and bottom, plus a big banner with the newspaper’s name, there isn’t much room for news. Overall a great paper!

MINDEN TIMES

The Minden Times had a great front page. It was clean and well-thought out with good photos to draw the eye of the reader. It has a good overall layout with great use of larger photos. The lack of a specifically labelled sports section detracted a bit from the good feel of the paper. The opinion section was very good hitting on a variety of points. The vast number of unique and interesting advertisements made the paper look nice and a very easy read.

HONOURABLE MENTION

DEEP RIVER NORTH RENFREW TIMES

Athabasca, AB PLACE 3rd

The Deep River North Renfrew Times is a clean and easy to read paper with a good use of white space. There is good local content and reader engagement with local editorials, letters to the editor, and a readers’ survey. The sports section had a variety of sports, which is always good. There are a lot of photos, which is good, but almost all of them are posed. More dynamic photos would make the overall look even better. It is also important to separate stand-alone photos from stories to avoid confusion. Overall, a solid paper.

MEAFORD EXPRESS – The Meaford Express had a lot to read on a variety of topics. It had great full-page features and a lot of photographs. The design is clean, and the ads are well designed. This paper could benefit by making the front page photo bigger, so it grabs the reader’s attention, and by having a sports section that is clearly delineated. Still, this paper is a good read.

GENERAL COMMENT

The papers in this category get stronger every year. Generally they are well laid out with a lot of local content. However, the one area of improvement is photography. Some papers did not have many photos at all, while others had a larger number of photos but they were either posed or “grin and grips”. More photos of people in action, and not looking directly at the camera, will strengthen every entry. Another area of improvement is headlines. They should be big and strong, but not larger than the story itself, and never contain unfamiliar acronyms (the exceptions being RCMP and GST). A good rule of thumb is to look at your paper like someone who has never read it before. It was a pleasure to judge these newspapers and I congratulate everyone who entered for all their hard work all year long.

GENERAL EXCELLENCE • CLASS 2

KINCARDINE INDEPENDENT

The Kincardine Independent had first class stories. Excellent community content and decent sports coverage are what put the Kincardine Independent at the top of the winners circle. Op-ed pages contained lots of letters along with a mix of opinion. Photos told the story, although some of the reproduction appeared to be washed out. That said, overall reproduction quality was good. This newspaper presented in a pleasing design and a reader friendly format. A wonderful paper to read.

PLACE 1st

HALIBURTON COUNTY ECHO

This paper got our attention with its abundance of community news. The County Echo does an excellent job covering the communities in and around Haliburton. The stories were well- written and obviously this newspaper is an echo of the community. In addition to its commitment to editorial content, the Echo is filled with numerous effective ads that are well-designed and attractive. The paper also earns high marks for its innovative approach to advertising to help businesses get their message out, and to make the paper a financial success. The editorial content and ads are then presented in an attractive layout that is consistent throughout the paper. An all-around great newspaper.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 2nd

7 entries

Judges

Barrhead Leader Barrhead, AB

PLACE 3rd

WINCHESTER PRESS

The Winchester Press had compelling front pages, well-written stories, strong sports sections and community content. Op-ed pages showed community involvement with the many letters to the editor. Pleasing ad content and classified section. I did feel there was too many staged/grip n’ grin photos with no effort made to look for creative ways to present the photo.

The seven papers in this category had a wide range of styles and approaches to their coverage, but despite the differences, the scoring was close. The strongest of the papers featured a comprehensive and compelling package of news and advertising. Layout and production quality issues cost marks to some papers, as did the package of community news.

Frank McTighe Editor and Publisher The Macleod Gazette Fort Macleod, AB

John Arendt Editor Summerland Review Summerland, BC

Carol Farnalls Publisher

3,500 - 6,499

Judges

Lorne Eckersley

Publisher

Creston Valley Advance Creston, BC

Jessica Peters Reporter

Chilliwack Progress Chilliwack, BC

EGANVILLE LEADER

What’s not to like? From the first page through the last, the Eganville Leader reflects a long-time commitment to quality, and to serving its community in every way. Fine writing, excellent photography, creative use of space and appealing design make the Leader a first class community newspaper.

FORT FRANCES TIMES

I felt like Fort Frances must be a terrific community in which to live after reading the Times. Well written with plenty to interest readers of all ages, this is a community newspaper of distinction.

Grant Harris Publisher & Sales Manager

Smithers Interior News

Smithers, BC

NUNAVUT NEWS/NORTH

There is probably no newspaper in Canada more worthy of our admiration and appreciation. To pull off the near impossible make a reader friendly newspaper in two languages with different scripts is a near miracle. Residents of the Canadian North are truly fortunate to have Nunavut News/ North as a source of news and information.

GENERAL COMMENT

Small community newspapers face unique challenges, juggling finite resources while upholding standards in journalism. The standouts in this category submitted newspapers that stood out on their own, even when pulled away from the communities they serve. In each, the storytelling was strong and well-honed, photographs powerful and placed appropriately, and ad content was plentiful and represented the advertisers well. In reading through the newspapers in this category it was heartening to see the continued commitment that weekly newspapers have to their community and also to sense that these papers are thriving, with healthy percentages of advertising. The quality of each publication was outstanding.

COLLINGWOOD CONNECTION

The Collingwood Connection offered a wide range of community news, along with engaging pictures to draw in the readers. A perfect balance of colourful details along with ad placement. The pages were not crowded which allowed the reader to easily locate feature stories. It was a pleasure to choose Collingwood Connection as one of the top 3 community newspapers.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 2nd

NIAGARA THIS WEEK, TOWN CRIER

Niagara This Week, Town Crier gains a huge advantage in this category by showcasing an eyecatching and engaging front page. Beyond that, editorial content is strong, with a true community focus and diversity in stories. They had the strongest sports sections in Class 4, the importance of which cannot be understated at the community level. The same can be said for their opinion pages, which avoid stock content and filler columns, and engage readers. Outside editorial content, the Town Crier exhibits strong advertising content and design. Overall a very good newspaper from front to back.

Fort Saskatchewan Record

Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Judges PLACE 1st

NWT NEWS/NORTH

Without a doubt, the NWT News/North is a great overall paper. It had great presentation with exceptionally strong layout, photography and content. Clean and easy to read with big headlines that commanded attention from the reader. Another great plus about this newspaper is the dedication to creative photography!

PLACE 3rd

The newspapers in this class showed an outstanding display of creativity, newsworthy features and community minded stories. All the competitors easily documented events as it unfolds - to be documented for many years to come. These newspapers show the importance of teamwork and a group vision. Many of the entries in this category seemed to have good points (lots of advertising and some good layouts) and not so good points (some production quality issues and some with confusing layouts). Sometimes it can’t be helped (based on time of year, geography, etc.) but there was a lack of emphasis on sports coverage in several of the entries. The other area of concern was the lack of photography. Solid photography that is played big week in and week out draws even the most casual of readers into the newspaper. In this day and age of social media and sharing, nothing gets people talking (and Tweeting) about your product like a great photo, especially if it is creatively captured. Overall, though, the entries in this class were interesting and each painted an informational picture about the communities they serve. Each newspaper in this class was a treat to read and judge. Well done, everyone!!

Sponsored by Metro Creative Graphics

Ben Proulx Editor

Cindy Hierlihy Editor

West Prince Graphic Alberton, PE Terry Jensen Publisher Clark’s Crossing Gazette Warman, SK

Judges

Bill Phillips Managing Editor

ELMIRA-WOOLWICH OBSERVER

The clear-cut winner in this category this year is the Elmira-Woolwich Observer. The Observer is doing a lot of things right … good stories, great use of photos, and good writing.

The Observer staff seems to strive to make every page an adventure … in a good way. Great job.

ANCASTER NEWS

With strong community content and an appealing layout, the Ancaster News was a pleasure to review. Timely, wellreported topics, a lively editorial section and solid advertising design contributed to its overall success. It is obvious that this publication’s team cares about providing their readers with an exceptional newspaper. It is also obvious that both readers and the business community are engaged with their community newspaper.

GENERAL COMMENT

STOUFFVILLE SUN-TRIBUNE

The Stouffville Sun-Tribune captivated with its writing and story selection. Flipping through the pages, one could see the paper has writers and an editor who care about their words. More importantly, the content gives some insight into the people of Stouffville. The stories are something to remember, and if living there, I would be looking for more.

2nd PLACE 3rd

This circulation class was very well represented, with a wide variety of both independent and chain publications. While, in some cases, there were definitely areas for improvement, overall the passion for our industry shone through. Publishers in this category need to invest in photography and give your editorial staff the room to publish photos. Too many of the papers in this category were dummied so tight that editors didn’t have room to run good photos, even if they had them. When the news-hole on a page is a two-by-four or seven-by-two … what’s the point? And editors in this category need to invest more in their sports sections. While some papers had solid sports sections, many relegated sports to a page or two near the back somewhere, which, often as not, weren’t even labeled.

Prince George Free Press

Prince George, BC

Mary-Ann Kostiuk Regional Director of Advertising Post Media Network Inc. AB

Jeff Holubitsky Editor

St. Albert Gazette St. Albert, AB

GUELPH TRIBUNE

Guelph Tribune is a strong newspaper with excellent community news and plenty of hard news. It covers all aspects of life in Guelph, and uses strong photography and good design to reach its readers. We were impressed with its strong coverage of the university – an aspect of community life that is sometimes missed. PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

SUDBURY NORTHERN LIFE

The Sudbury Northern Life stood out above the others for its excellent design, strong news, excellent photography, and outstanding sports and community coverage. It is a very good spokesman for its community and the unique aspects of life in Sudbury are well-portrayed in its pages.

PLACE 1st

CIRCULATION 22,500 - 44,999

20 entries

Judges

Ryan Dahlman Managing Editor Prairie Post Medicine Hat/Swift Current, AB

Frank Bucholtz Editor Langley Times, Langley, BC

Christopher Foulds Editor

Kamloops This Week Kamloops, BC

NORFOLK NEWS

Norfolk News is a very good community newspaper, in the traditional and longstanding sense. It contains lots of news about people, agriculture, local government, special events and sports. It is a must-read for residents of Norfolk County. Strong design and good use of photos put it ahead of many of the others in this class.

PLACE 3rd

CAMBRIDGE TIMES – An honourable mention goes to the Cambridge Times, which uses strong design, a good news sense and photos very effectively.

GENERAL COMMENT

We looked over all issues very carefully and were impressed by the hard work that goes into each edition of all of these newspapers. They are clearly very important to their communities, and the two-way relationship between newspapers and their community of readers is very obvious in each publication. Some points of observation are offered in the hope that they may help improve what is already a quite strong class of newspapers. Many of the newspapers are filled with advertising, to quite high percentages. While this is obviously where our revenue comes from, at times it restricts quite severely the news hole and space for good use of photos, graphs and other editorial material. In some newspapers, the editorial space was used by columns, and at times they were not that local. Hyperlocal is the strength of our business, and that extends to the editorial pages. Overall, this was a strong group of newspapers and we appreciate the opportunity to act as judges.

Sponsored by Northern News Services

Judges

John Kendle Managing Editor Canstar Community News

Winnipeg, MB

Robert Mangelsdorf Editor Westender

Vancouver, BC

Andrea DeMeer Publisher Simikameen Spotlight and Keremeos Review

Princeton, BC

NEWMARKET ERA/AURORA BANNER

Don’t mistake this broadsheet for a staid and stodgy paper. The Newmarket Era/ Aurora Banner uses its space well, with a layout that is thoughtful and professional. It plays photographs properly, making superlative use of large, quality photos. It ensures that local and regional people and issues are covered throughout the paper, devoting considerable space to news, sports and community features.

GENERAL COMMENT

BRANT NEWS

The intelligent use of colour and photos in limited space on the front page immediately make the Brant News inviting. Once inside, the clean design, clear printing and proliferation of local news and local faces make this a winner. Quality news and features and a comprehensive sports section are supported by a crisp layout and superior printing.

BARRIE ADVANCE

The Barrie Advance is a big paper with lots of pages, yet there is also local news on page after page after page. It takes dedication and consistent effort to do this week in and week out. It stands out for its clean front page, layout and photography.

PLACE 2nd

PLACE 3rd

The news holes of many of these papers grow smaller and smaller every year. The challenge for papers in this category is the balance between editorial presentation and maintaining high advertising percentages. Publishers and editors should continually be aware of the need to provide the news in newspapers. Publications that run too tight have no room for creative design or meaningful features and photographs. The winners set themselves apart not just with their content, but with the space their editors are afforded to create an attractive, accessible package

NIAGARA COLLEGE –NIAGARA NEWS

The Niagara News has a list of strong points including variety of content, photography and clean layout. However, what sets it apart is a consistent, dedicated effort to capture hyper-local news. My congratulations to the student news team and professors for concentrating on this absolutely critical component of community news.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 2nd

ALGONQUIN COLLEGE –ALGONQUIN TIMES

The Algonquin Times college newspaper offers both quality and quantity of content, strong layout, excellent photography, interesting headlines and was a clear winner in this year’s category. Consider beefing up the editorial pages with perhaps a quarter-page cartoon instead of a half, and incorporate a letters to the editor slot in the remaining space.

PLACE 1st

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO –IMPRINT

University of Waterloo’s Imprint makes a positive first impression; it is well laid out and put together. I enjoyed the layout on the Arts and Life page (Not So) Blank Slate and Rhyming Diction. Clean, vivid column headers set these pieces apart from general news. The photo processing, arrangement and reproduction is very good. However, there are too many columns per issue. While opinion pieces complement a publication, a newspaper’s job is to also share news.

COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY

10 entries

Judge

Shannon Duff Managing Editor Metroland Northwest

Division

Shannon Duff is the managing editor of five community weekly newspapers with Metroland Media. She has received several OCNA Better Newspaper Competition awards and is both proud and thankful to be a part of the print journalism industry. Aside from the written word, her other loves include her husband, her horse and cat, and life in the country.

3rd

It was a pleasure reviewing the entries from our aspiring journalists. I would encourage each entrant to remember in this competition - and throughout their careers - attention to detail is paramount. This goes well beyond ensuring your reporting is accurate. It also counts for photo processing, layout and presentation. Everything you show your readers counts for or against your credibility. Clean copy, crisp photos and an attractive page showcase your capabilities. Highlight your strengths, but strengthen your weaknesses, too; if your headline writing, photography skills or pagination need work, don’t hesitate to ask for help. Busy newsrooms are best equipped with all-around skilled journos. There was a wide range of quality among this crop of entries. Attention to detail and a little extra time spent honing skills will no doubt bring the entries closer in line with each other.

PLACE

BOOKLET DESIGN & LAYOUT BY: Sylvie Tremblay

PREMIER AWARDS

PREMIER AWARDS

HALIBURTON COUNTY ECHO

A really lovely read by Jenn Watt. A great narrative lead is followed by thoughtful writing and great depth of research. It’s inspiring to read about the therapeutic benefits artistic creation is having on these community members.

PLACE 1st

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

70 entries

Julie McCann Journalism Professor Algonquin College Ottawa, ON

Julie McCann is a full-time journalism professor at Algonquin College. She oversees the production of Glue magazine, a city-wide magazine for Ottawa students, and its sister website, Glue Online. Prior to that, she was a staff writer at National Post Business magazine and a contributor to Chatelaine, Canadian Geographic, Applied Arts, the Montreal Gazette and the Ottawa Citizen. Previously she was the managing editor at Canadian in-flight magazine and a staff writer at Marketing Magazine. She holds an M.J. from Carleton University and B.A.A. in journalism (magazine) from Ryerson University.

NEPEAN/ BARRHAVEN NEWS

Nevil Hunt gives us a welcoming read with some nice scenes, useful information and lively photography. Being dropped into the world of these ukulele-loving community members was a lot of fun.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

ETOBICOKE GUARDIAN

Not only did this piece serve to reveal the identify of the mysterious ice sculptor who’d been pleasing residents and visitors with his creations, it went far further: it let them get to know artist Peter Riedel. Readers are grateful the reporter, Cynthia Reason, braved the cold with him.

PLACE 3rd

Kanata Kourier-Standard – Adam Kveton’s piece introduces readers to a novel form of dance, creation and self-empowerment. The writing is nice and there’s a good range of voices too. The photos are strong and serve the piece well.

Mississauga News – Using great details and nice writing, David Paterson’s piece opens a small window on one community for another. The artists and the art exhibit that sparked this piece were well served here.

GENERAL COMMENT

The winners of this year’s Arts & Entertainment category have each served their readers well by using delightful writing, solid reporting and great design. Whether they’ve introduced us to art as a healing tool, the joyful accessibility of a ukulele-playing community or why an ice-sculptor does what he does, they’ve all succeeded in inspiring us. Each reporter has also reminded us that gifted artists live side by side with us in our own communities - and are, perhaps, maybe even hidden within each one of us too.

Judge

OTTAWA HILL TIMES

Mark Burgess delves deep into the wireless telecom auction issue – even found out who was lobbying. It was very informative about a far-reaching and important topic for Canadians.

PLACE 1st

Judge

Mazza Publisher The Mountaineer Rocky Mountain House, AB

Glen Mazza has been the publisher of The Mountaineer community weekly in Rocky Mountain House for nearly 20 years. He grew up in the business and strives to always learn more and gain insight from colleagues in the industry. Mazza believes that good journalism and engaging content builds readership. The Mountaineer won its circulation category in general excellence in both 2012 and 2014 at the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards. It is also a proud member of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) and Glen is ever watchful of the hot topics that are sent out. He supported the establishment of the Brian Mazza Memorial Scholarship which provides several hundred dollars for a Canadian editor to attend the ISWNE conference. A graduate of many business courses, Glen was keen to judge this category.

PETERBOROUGH THIS WEEK

Sarah Frank dug deep to get some great insight into the challenges of doing business along the Hwy. 7 corridor. The research was great and the article had great perspective. This one was near the top.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

GLANBROOK GAZETTE

A very important article about the effects of land claims on local businesses. Jennifer Vo dealt with this difficult subject in very professional way.

PLACE 3rd

Oakville Beaver – A very touching article about dedicating one of the businesses products to help the Children’s Hospital in memory of an infant daughter. John Bkila did a wonderful job on the writing.

GENERAL COMMENT

The best writers in this category set themselves apart by reaching deeper into the issues. There’s always opposing opinions about the direction of any given business and the winners dared to get varying perspectives. Some of the articles were features on business people and sounded much like advertorials. That approach is fine, but it won’t win awards in this category because these features often skirt the underlying issues. Congratulations to the winners.

Glen

DUNDAS STAR NEWS

Great analysis of the issue. While other editorials use an “issue” and “view” statement, I liked that they were located high up on the page to draw the reader’s attention.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

ANCASTER NEWS

This editorial stood out early on with a detailed accounting of the financial problems facing the City of Hamilton. The editorial makes excellent use of facts and statistics to make its case, while laying out the implications of the city’s financial problems.

PLACE 1st

40 entries

Judge

Don Patterson Editor Okotoks Western Wheel and Western Wheel Weekend Okotoks, AB

Don Patterson is the editor of the Okotoks Western Wheel and Western Wheel Weekend publications. Over the past 11 years, he has passionately covered news and events in the southwest Alberta foothills region.

HAMILTON MOUNTAIN NEWS

Well-argued editorial matched with a colourful, eye-catching layout.

PLACE 3rd

Brant News – Great job. The issue may not directly affect many people, but this editorial raises important questions about a very real problem.

GENERAL COMMENT

This category was very difficult to judge. As the results show, most of the submissions were well written and of equal quality and calibre. Many were deserving of recognition and it was not an easy task to pick the top three, or honourable mention.

MINDEN TIMES

At first I thought this topic was so juicy that it would be ridiculously easy to write an admonishing editorial about the subject in question and I was prepared to consider that in allocating marks. However, the more I read it, the more I appreciated the careful crafting required to make the most of an unusual incident, keeping the most important facet in focus, without going overboard. Placing the editorial in a box and including the writer’s name, title and photo also increased the impact.

HONOURABLE MENTION

PLACE 2nd

DEEP RIVER NORTH RENFREW TIMES

This piece epitomizes excellent editorial writing. Most of the space is used to elaborate on three specific points, and it ends with a strong concluding sentence. The writing is direct and clean.

PLACE 1st

Gail Sjuberg Editor Gulf Islands Driftwood Salt Spring Island, BC

Gail Sjuberg has been the editor of the award-winning Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper in B.C. since 2003 and in the community newspaper business for more than 20 years. She is also the editor of Driftwood Publishing Ltd.’s magazine called Aqua-Gulf Islands Living and the Gulf Islander tourist guide, and has been a judge for numerous community newspaper competitions.

MANITOULIN EXPOSITOR

It’s a difficult thing to distill what’s wrong with a new and complex government bill, but this editorial did it well. Front-page placement gave it extra prominence. Tighter writing in some places would have improved the piece.

Glanbrook Gazette – I like the two-pronged approach of this editorial: pointing out the error of the county’s thinking on one hand and celebrating the actions of the knitters and crocheters on the other. It works.

GENERAL COMMENT

Newspapers submitting entries to this category are serving their communities well through use of the editorial space. Ways to do it even better include going beyond describing a problem to suggest specific solutions or alternate actions, and taking more time to edit and proofread the pieces. Typos, poor grammar and cliches weaken the authority of an editorial’s voice.

PLACE 3rd

PREMIER AWARDS

PLACE 1st

COLLINGWOOD CONNECTION

Erika Engel told her powerful story using a simple, clear, descriptive writing style. In just a few detailed paragraphs, the reader was able to emotionally connect with Shane and get to know a bit of his personality.

Erika’s story flowed well and had good rhythm, particularly her first few graphs, where she chose to introduce Shane’s mom with a great quote.

“He’s the easy part,” said so much about the story and where it was heading.

The sidebar added depth and another voice to the main story. Great job tackling a powerful and emotional topic.

HONOURABLE MENTION

EDUCATION WRITING

63 entries

OTTAWA SOUTH NEWS

Beau Simpson Editor The Now Surrey ,BC

Beau Simpson is the award-winning editor of the Now newspaper, which serves Surrey, North Delta and White Rock in the Lower Mainland of B.C. Under his leadership for the past eight years, the paper has won a number of provincial and national awards and Beau has also earned several in his own right. Most recently, he was recognized for his community service project dubbed “Junior Journalists,” which earned Beau both national and provincial awards for not only grooming the next generation of media leaders, but also teaching a sense of citizenship and responsibility among the youth in his community.

HALIBURTON COUNTY ECHO

Jenn Watt’s soft lead was by far the best in the category. It was an excellent way to introduce the story, which could have easily been dismissed by some reporters as a lackluster assignment. While her writing was clear and concise - with good flow and rhythm - some quotes from a student who is partaking in virtual learning would have made her story even stronger.

GENERAL COMMENT

Erin McCracken’s colourful, descriptive lead was just what this feature story needed. She hooked the reader by placing them right in the middle of the action and followed up her soft lead by doing what every good feature writer should do - with a good nut graph. Erin’s story was packed with great quotes and she was careful to include many voices. Plus, she smartly used a sidebar to offer depth and context without bogging her main story down with numbers. Her writing style was colourful, yet clean and concise and maintained a good sense of rhythm from start to finish. Great job! PLACE

3rd

Ancaster News – This entry by Richard Leitner earned an Honourable Mention for its clean, concise storytelling. After starting with a strong lead, the writer included a variety of voices, ultimately providing the reader with enough information to form their own opinion. Well done!

This was a difficult category to judge, as most reporters who entered submissions did a fantastic job in their own right telling their stories in a number of different ways. However, while most submissions may have answered the pertinent questions and were written in a clear and concise manner, they lacked the imagination and initiative required to earn an award. Others were fun topics that begged to be written in a colourful way but were disappointingly presented as straight news stories, hard leads and all. There seemed to be many missed opportunities in this regard. Other stories seemed to get bogged down with context and background before the writer introduced a human element – the people the story impacts and the emotion attached to it. Finally, there were also entries that, while written well, only used one source. So, while most reporters stuck to the by-the-numbers style of storytelling, the entries that stood out were the ones where reporters shed the shackles of traditional reporting and tackled the topic as writers. Imaginative leads, descriptive writing and good rhythm took their stories to the next level. As a judge, I looked for emotion (yes, even the too-institutionalized “Education Beat” with its trustees and board meetings can offer up some tasty emotional treats). The winning writers were successful in conveying said emotion - whether it be frustration and vulnerability as in the case of the second-place entry, or, as in the case of the winning story, nostalgia and empowerment. Congratulations to the writers!

Sponsored by Ontario Journalism Educators Association

SIOUX LOOKOUT WAWATAY NEWS

Ontario’s Far North has an articulate advocate in the Wawatay News and reporter Bryan Phelan. Bryan provides a detailed overview of the state of resource management in the region and the importance of a more coherent approach to environmental assessment. He’s not afraid to get into the minutiae of the issues and potential approaches to them. A big subject, well-handled.

HONOURABLE MENTION

2nd

OTTAWA HILL TIMES

A powerful piece of watchdog journalism by Chris Plecash and the Hill Times about government foot-dragging when it comes to protection from pollution. Chris has done an impressive job of documentary research and has supplemented that with his own interviews to build a persuasive case. Complimented by solid writing. Very well-done.

PLACE 1st

WATERLOO CHRONICLE

Surely global warming is one of the most important long-term issues facing Canada and the rest of the world. Perhaps thee most important. But global warming remains an abstraction for many of us. In this well-reported and well-designed package, reporter James Jackson and the Waterloo Chronicle alert readers to the potential for tangible effects in their own community. Global issue, well-localized.

ENVIRONMENT ONTARIO

Judge

Stephen Cogan Program Coordinator Centennial College Toronto, ON

Stephen Cogan is a proud alumnus of community newspapers in the Upper Ottawa Valley. He’s also been a writer and editor at the Kingston Whig-Standard, CBC News in Toronto and NBC News in New York. He co-manages the journalism programs at Centennial College in Toronto.

PLACE 3rd

Oshawa Express – Reporter Lindsey Cole and the Oshawa Express have dug deeply into a local controversy around whether a Hydro One project will impact the environment in the surrounding rural neighbourhood. An ambitious treatment well-executed.

GENERAL COMMENT

This category drew 64 entries. That made for a lot of reading. And a lot of deliberating to winnow down many worthy candidates to four “winners.” But -- along with tired eyes -- what I’m left with is a real sense of satisfaction... that community newspapers across Ontario are taking environmental reporting very seriously. The topics varied: from several articles in rural papers about Phragmites (an invasive reed) and neonicotinoids (an insecticide suspected in the steep decline of bee populations) to stories in urban and suburban papers about the emerald ash borer (a bug that’s felling whole stands of trees from one end of Ontario to the other). But there was an impressive range of other subjects as well. And an equally impressive willingness among many of these journalists to ‘speak truth to power’ -- to confront ecological ostriches in the community. Some of these birds with their brains in the sand are just cranks, like climate change deniers. But others are entrenched local interests, like developers and local officials. Congratulations to the reporters and newspapers who took them on... and to all of these entrants for making the environment a significant component of their local coverage. It was a pleasure to consume the fruits of their labour -- and an education too.

GRIMSBY NEWSNOW

Kept me willingly reading right to the last word. The story on its own is compelling but writer Katherine Grant is obviously as good at asking questions as she is writing about the answers.

PLACE 2nd

57 entries

OTTAWA HILL TIMES

Extremely well researched, Chris Plecash’s story manages to fit in lots of facts to back up its assertions while remaining an enjoyable read. Lots of sources/interviews woven together craftily.

PLACE 1st

Martha Perkins Executive Director FundAid BC

Martha Perkins won more than 60 provincial and national awards, including the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, during her years in community journalism. She is now the executive director of FundAid, Glacier Media’s crowdfunding initiative.

ELMIRAWOOLWICH OBSERVER

A comprehensive story by Elena Maystruk about how the economy is affecting both older workers and the companies who have to replace them. Lots of information, several sources, all while keeping it personal and relevant. Might have been better broken into two companion pieces.

PLACE 3rd

GENERAL COMMENT

There were many examples of strong storytelling in this category but single-source interviews often failed to catapult features into the winners’ circle. Chris Plecash’s (Hill Times) behind-the-scenes look at Liberal strategies was tightly written, deftly guiding the reader through reams of research in a way that never got bogged down by “too much information.” At first, Elena Maystuk’s comprehensive exploration of working seniors (Elmira-Woolwich Observer) was in the running for top spot. She covered all angles, doing extensive research and interviews. But sometimes the subject’s scope overwhelmed her. Katherine Grant (Grimsby NewsNow) nudged her out of second spot by being a keen observer and gifted storyteller. Her profile on “the face of grace and courage” pulled me along, word by word, until the very end. Honourable mention goes to What’s Up Muskoka’s story on battles with Hydro bills.

Sponsored by O’Donnell, Robertson & Sanfilippo

Judge

TILBURY TIMES

This is an incredible story by Gerry Harvieux! Shows humour, despair, pain and comedy. Very well written!

-9,999

33 entries

Judge

MANOTICK MESSENGER

Jeff Morris did a fantastic job on this article which covers all sides of the issue. Lots of voices to present the cause and effect. Layout is superb! Well done!

PLACE 1st

2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

Jackie Jardine is the editor of The Advocate weekly newspaper in Pictou, Nova Scotia, which has been published since 1893 – but she hasn’t been working there that long! She has been working in the industry for 26 years, having begun her career at The Advocate as a reporter, then moving to a daily newspaper and now, has been back at The Advocate for more than four years. When she’s not working, she loves to read, travel and entertain. She is also the editor of a number of books including all of the Finding Maria series.

BURKS FALLS ALMAGUIN NEWS

Heart wrenching story that is incredibly well told by the writer, Mary Beth Hartill. It evoked a great deal of sympathy without delving into salacious details. Well done!

PLACE 3rd

Uxbridge Times-Journal – Shawn Cayley tells a fantastic story detailing the kindness of youth in recognizing the need in a community. Love the sidebar which adds dimension to the story.

West Carleton Review – Love the intro and first-person perspective. Excitement and enthusiasm really shine through! Well done Jessica Cunha!

GENERAL COMMENT

Judging this category was incredibly difficult to do this year based on the sheer talent of the entries received. Impressive doesn’t even begin to do the entries justice. Each piece exhibited solid writing with an interesting background of subjects and, I found, each story had the capacity to draw out a variety of emotions. Some of the articles made me laugh out loud, some had me in tears and others had me steamed in outrage! They were creative, inventive and entertaining. It was evident from the calibre of feature stories submitted that the writers are passionate about the stories they tell.

Sponsored by O’Donnell, Robertson & Sanfilippo

Jackie Jardine Editor The Advocate Pictou, NS

NORFOLK NEWS

Katie Starr gives us a wonderful profile and examination of the impact Alzheimers’s can have on individuals and their families. Excellent layout.

2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

MILTON CANADIAN CHAMPION

HEALTH & WELLNESS Grant Burr Editor The Carillon Steinbach, MB

Grant Burr is the editor of The Carillon, a community newspaper serving dozens of communities in southeastern Manitoba. The Carillon, published in Steinbach, MB, was recognized last year with second place honours in its circulation class for general excellence by the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards (CCNAs). Burr has served previously as a judge for the CCNAs and the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association.

FORT FRANCES TIMES

Duane Hicks has strong writing, good coverage, and excellent grasp of the issues. The reader concludes the article with a very good sense of the challenges at hand.

3rd

Excellent story by Kathy Yanchus profiling the life of Qandeel, her family’s story and the importance of taking the issue of breast cancer seriously. PLACE

Georgina Advocate – Heidi Riedner gives us a strong account on the dangers of fentanyl abuse. Nice front page. Good photos.

GENERAL COMMENT

There were a number of strong entries in this category. Many of the stories focused on illnesses and the impact those conditions can have on people living with them as well as family members. The strongest of those health profile stories were those pieces that really gave voice to the individuals affected. Statistics and background information about health issues are a necessary component of these stories but the central focus should be on getting to know the people at the heart of the story. Many of the submissions were also improved by the quality of the layout and story placement. Stories that relied on stock photography did not make as significant an impact as those that featured photography of the story subjects more prominently. Similarly, the biggest health story of the year doesn’t necessarily need to be on the front page but such placement certainly gives more weight to the issue. The Milton Canadian Champion’s Kathy Yanchus does an excellent job in her first place story. Breast cancer doesn’t age discriminate is a well-written, detailed account of one family’s heartbreaking loss, which identifies the importance of the issue to the larger community and is assisted by a solid layout.

MILTON CANADIAN CHAMPION

Pretty special story about planes and love and World War II – family is big too. I liked it very much. This is much more than a piece about an old plane. Bravo to Julie Slack!

2nd

PORT PERRY STAR

Bravo to Chris Hall –excellent treatment of a long ago fire & excellent use of heritage photos. For the complete package ‘From the Ashes’ deserves first place.

PLACE 1st

76 entries

Wendy Elliot

Reporter, Editor and Columnist

Kings County

Advertiser/Register

Kentville, NS

Wendy Elliott has been a reporter, editor and columnist for over 30 years. Writing for The Kings County Advertiser/Register in western Nova Scotia, she has picked up regional and national awards for Best Columnist, Best Sport Story and Best Series.

GEORGETOWN/ ACTON INDEPENDENT & FREE PRESS

Good stuff by Ted Brown! Well handled epic tale of WWI quilt returning home to the community where it was created. Kudos to Maggie & Tony Groves who made it happen. Well rounded piece.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Elmira-Woolwich Observer – Lovely story about community by Will Sloan - really nice dedication.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 3rd

With the anniversary of World War II on our collective mind, this was a well turned out class in 2014. Ontario communities are also grappling with whether there is a compelling need for heritage districts. Thirdly there are continual gains and loss when it comes to heritage values and built heritage. I found myself checking with Google to see how various battles had turned out. The beautifully documented Port Perry fire was the obvious winner, but the story of Norm Etheridge sending his wife Eileen’s ashes back to England was touching. Thirdly the epic tale of Georgetown WI quilt returning home almost a century later was superb. For sheer human interest the story about Joe Kelly, the clock winder of Elmira, captured the honourable mention for the category

Sponsored by Fort Frances Times

BRAMPTON GUARDIAN

The classic “gotcha!” The most surprising aspect of this well-done story, done by Pam Douglas, is that there are still politicians out there who get caught by journalists digging into their expense claims. Great job, brightly written. Other entrants take note: many stories in this category were based on council decisions, legal proceedings, and police information. News yes, but not investigative journalism.

PLACE 1st

BEST INVESTIGATIVE NEWS STORY

42 entries

Judge

Andrew Holota Editor Abbotsford News Abbotsford, BC

Andrew Holota is currently the editor of the Abbotsford News, a twice-weekly community newspaper that is part of the Black Press chain. Andrew also carries the title of regional editorial manager, Black Press Lower Mainland. Andrew’s journalism career began more than 35 years ago, as a photographer. He moved into reporting, and has been an editor since 1984 at various Valley and Lower Mainland community

WATERLOO CHRONICLE

A very well-researched piece on seniors’ housing – a critical issue that exists in virtually every community. James Jackson used multiple voices and sources, combined with good use of narrative elements.

PLACE 2nd

PLACE 3rd

OTTAWA SOUTH NEWS

An important story on dwindling funding for a program that works to prevent recidivism among sex offenders. The personal story of an offender makes this piece that much more compelling. Well done Erin McCracken!

GENERAL COMMENT

It was wonderful to read the entries in the Best Investigative News Story category. It takes a lot of time and energy to write a good investigative piece, and Ontario’s community newspapers are doing just that. Congratulations to all!

ETOBICOKE GUARDIAN

Very well written piece by Tamara Shephard.

2nd

ORLEANS NEWS

Brier Dodge showed true initiative by going to a neighbourhood when a murder was reported and walking around the neighbourhood when she knew the killer was at large. She was on the scene and got a photo of the takedown. This is what real reporting is all about.

1st

Judge

Kevin Weedmark Editor World-Spectator Moosomin, SK

Kevin Weedmark is the editor of the Moosomin, Sask. World-Spectator, an independently owned community newspaper. His journalism career has taken him to Vietnam, the Philippines, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. His dozens of writing awards include twice winning the Award for Excellence in Writing on International Co-operation and twice winning the Media Human Rights Award presented by the League for Human Rights of B’Nai Brith Canada. His investigative reporting on the Sun Country Health Region led to the resignation of Sun Country vice-president of finance Hal Schmidt after the WorldSpectator reported that Schmidt had been fired from a previous job as CEO of IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia for falsely claiming to have earned his Chartered Accountant Designation, and that Schmidt had borrowed $75,000 in public funds from St. Mary’s Health Centre in New Westminster, B.C. and failed to repay the loan. Based on Weedmark’s reporting, the provincial health ministry investigated hiring practices in the Sun Country Health Region, and CEO Cal Tant was fired by the board the day it received the report.

RICHMOND HILL/THORNHILL LIBERAL

Excellent well written first-person account of a night on the streets. No doubt this would be an eye-opening story for many readers. Good job Kim Zarzour!

GENERAL COMMENT

It was a pleasure to be asked to judge the entries for best news story. There are some excellent reporters out there who are turning out first-class work. Many of the pieces could have been expanded upon, and I hope publishers and editors are allotting the editorial space needed to properly cover their communities. Good journalism is the heart of our industry, and it’s encouraging to see some of the good journalism in Ontario.

Sponsored by Hydro One Networks Inc.

GRAVENHURST BANNER

An excellent example of why we should all keep our cameras at hand and ready to shoot. The story is well-written, with great details from the various enforcement officials. The blow-byblow account of the incident treads along this judge’s line of comfort for graphic reading, but is done exceptionally well by the reporter – Kelly McShane and the witness photographer –Bev McMullen. Bearing witness for the rest of the community – that’s what our newspapers are here for.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 2nd

BRACEBRIDGE EXAMINER

Holy S--t, what a story. Incredibly tragic. Great initiative by the reporter, Brent Cooper, for doing the interview and being able to get it short and concise for the reader while still being respective of the victims and true to the tale. The photo layout and writing are both excellent. Incredibly well done from start to print.

Derek Kilbourn

Editor & Co-owner

Gabriola Sounder

Gabriola Island, BC

Derek Kilbourn is the editor and co-owner (with his wife and publisher Sarah Holmes) of the independent Gabriola Sounder Community Newspaper on Gabriola Island in British Columbia. Prior to purchasing the Sounder in 2008, Kilbourn worked for five years as a reporter and editor with Star News in Wainwright, Alberta.

WEST CARLETON REVIEW

War Veteran, family man dies in car crash: another tragic tale - this one involving someone who gave a good portion of his young life for his country and was starting to be able to take time for his family. Good on the reporter, Derek Dunn, for including the details about cell phone use and alcohol having been eliminated from the list.

PLACE 3rd

With the expanding world of Social Media, communities are looking more and more to their community newspaper to provide ‘the official story’ for what is happening in their local world. We take a ton of information from many sources and craft it all together into a local news story that we then put – permanently –on the record. We don’t have the option of changing it like we do online - we have to get it right the first and only time we put it to press. It is up to us more than ever to interpret the information for the community and tell WHY the story matters, not simply WHAT the story is. That is at the very core a great local news story. The tragic tale of the trailer fire survivor was a perfect example of this. No social media hound is ever going to put the kind of face and impact on a story than the reporter and editing team did. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who entered. Please continue to do our industry proud.

Sponsored by Hydro One Networks Inc.

PREMIER AWARDS

COLLINGWOOD CONNECTION

John Edwards put together a great piece – good layout and a good use of photos to draw attention to the feature. Interesting information spun out in a good story. It’s very intensive farming on a small area isn’t it? Well written and reads well.

PLACE 1st

WATERDOWN FLAMBOROUGH REVIEW

Great lead & great development by Catherine O’Hara. Good use of emptiness in the photo to enhance point!

2nd

GENERAL COMMENT

10,000+

29 entries

Sheena Read Editor, Nanton News Nanton, AB

Sheena Read has been in communications for more than 20 years. As a child growing up in the hills of southern Alberta, she learned about the basis of land stewardship and history from area ranchers, hill-folk and First Nations, and later focused much of her writings and research on land and environment issues.

NORFOLK NEWS

Good headline! Good lead and opening development. Katie Starr gives us a good story & a good feature that also ties in changing and evolving farming markets.

PLACE 3rd

It may sound trite, but truly, the entries for this awards competition are just getting better each year. The quality of writing and layouts has been tremendous, which also means you have to mark and judge harder to separate everyone. There were some very good layouts, using larger eye-catching photos to grab the readers’ attentions. We need to do more of this, to attract readers in an increasing “Squirrel!” attention-span. This is especially true when the articles subject matter isn’t about Justin Bieber or the Kardashians. These are important topics, with important information. The respect that the writers all showed for their readership is evident in this category, and it’s very good to see the creativity and the effort that went into some of the layouts. Well done!

Sponsored by Ontario Federation of Agriculture

NEW HAMBURG INDEPENDENT

Very well written, indepth and interesting. It is a common story: facilities that are not up to snuff. But by pushing deeper and digging for more the writer, Doug Coxson, flushed out so much of what’s at stake. It was an easy choice for second place.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

PLACE 1st

SIOUX LOOKOUT WAWATAY NEWS

Wow! Comprehensive, in-depth, quotes that drive the story, full of information pertinent to readers - but it never bores you. Is there opposition to the project? If not, then great read, but if so, it was not in the story - and it would have added to the layers already presented. An easy first place choice to Bryan Phelan.

WEST CARLETON REVIEW

Multiple sources, in-depth information, relevant and recent news events tied to a worthy, selfsacrificing cause. What more could you ask for? Although it could have been edited better, it’s easily one of the best entries in this category and deserving of third place. Well done Jessica Cunha!

PLACE 3rd

Bracebridge Examiner – A unique look into a large animal vet - something most know nothing about. It was well written by reporter Kelly McShane, and flowed nicely. I like how a recent news piece was turned into a feature on Kelli Drost - which is what reporters always need to be doing – looking for more stories and angles and flushing out more unique ideas.

GENERAL COMMENT

This category taught me so much about Ontario’s rural communities and newspapers that it left me thinking of the types of stories we cover – which include many of these topics – and the types we want to cover in the future. The top three articles were easy choices and a few after that were solid, however some pieces were too short and some didn’t contain enough research to be considered winners. In judging the OCNA awards for years, this is one of the most interesting and diverse categories, and it was a pleasure to judge all of your hard work. A few tips across the board: Trim quotes for clarity and flow, don’t be redundant with quotes, get MORE quotes, research BOTH sides of a story equally, and treat this category like it’s the best news category and see how far you can drive your pieces - hopefully to be better year after year.

Sponsored by Ontario Federation of Agriculture

40 entries

KITCHENER POST

This series, written by Melissa Murray, ties a slew of local tragedies into a national/global issue. The research is in-depth and the emotion of those involved bleeds onto the page.

PLACE 1st

Drew McLachlan Editor-in-Chief Lake Cowichan

Gazette

Nanaimo, BC

Drew McLachlan has worked as a reporter for publications across British Columbia. In 2014, he graduated from Vancouver Island University, where he served as associate editor for the Navigator. He currently resides in Nanaimo, BC, and works for the Lake Cowichan Gazette as Editor-inChief.

OTTAWA HILL TIMES

Very well written and a clean elegant layout. The author, Bea Vongdouangchanh, manages to balance the issues that were uncovered by the whistleblowers with the lives of the whistleblowers themselves. When it comes down to it, this is a national story, even an international one, and is not directly relevant to members of the community, aside from those employed by the federal government.

HONOURABLE MENTION

PLACE 3rd

PLACE 2nd

MISSISSAUGA NEWS

The personal stories in this series by Louie Rosella and Pam Douglas were very engaging and emotional, bringing light to how wide and deep racism can cut. It informed me on the variety of ways racism can manifest itself.

Whitby This Week – Jeff Mitchell and Parvaneh Pessian gave us a good breakup of topics for articles. Well done!

GENERAL COMMENT

This year saw journalists from across Ontario take on issues that affect us all -- across Canada and around the world. The best stories were the ones that took the microscope to these issues, and showed us how and why they affect our communities.

SIOUX LOOKOUT WAWATAY NEWS

Very creative and tidy layout. A lot of facts and figures but not cluttered nor hard to follow. Good job to Bryan Phelan.

HONOURABLE MENTION

MINTO EXPRESS

Certainly a lot of work went into this creative series. Great idea. The stories keep the readers interest because the writer, Shannon Duff, includes voices not only from the past but from the present. Good job.

1st

Cindy Hierlihy Editor/Reporter West Prince Graphic Alberton, PEI

17 entries PLACE

Cindy Hierlihy is the editor/reporter for the West Prince Graphic community newspaper, located in Alberton, PEI, for the past five years. The Graphic has been in circulation since October 1980 and has developed into a highly anticipated weekly publication. Although Ms. Hierlihy’s career path lead her from health care into the journalism field, she brings fresh ideas of the current concerns within local rural communities. Ms. Hierlihy was nominated in 2012 as one of three standing finalist for the Best Investigative Story for the Better Newspapers competition hosted by Newspaper Atlantic. As well, in 2013, she was honoured with second place for the Best Local Editorial hosted by the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards, Newspapers Canada. Ms. Hierlihy has been involved in various judging categories including: Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation 2014 Writers and Broadcasters Awards; Canadian Community Newspaper Awards 2014 and 2015 competition; as well as the Ontario Community Newspaper Awards 2014.

HALIBURTON COUNTY ECHO

Great way for the reader to put faces behind the food production and all that goes into it. Shopping local is all the buzz and this series by Jenn Watt certainly helped identify the importance.

PLACE 3rd

Huntsville Forester – Great way to put a face to a disease. By telling stories of people within a community, Alison Brownlee helped readers understand the full force of how dementia affects families and communities.

GENERAL COMMENT

It was my pleasure to be one of the judges for the Best Feature Series. I was impressed with the level of creativity and thought that went into each and every entry. Most entries allowed me, not only as a judge, but as an interested reader, to look forward to see what the next part to the series would entail. Good job from all those who entered. Each and every one of the entrants should be proud of the series ideas brought forth. It certainly is not easy to come up with new and interesting story ideas.

PREMIER AWARDS

BARRIE ADVANCE

Judge

PLACE 1st

OSHAWA THIS WEEK

First off, kudos to OTW for the art here: In today’s world, it’s rare to see proquality setup shots, complete with remote umbrella strobe (tighter cropping, please!) in community newspapers. Brian McNair’s writing was solid. The factbox was handy, adding an entrypoint that gave info while reducing word count. This was one of the better stories. It would be interesting to compare the story to one where the injuries were outlined earlier in the text.

HONOURABLE MENTION

2nd

Laurie Watt gives us a very strong, very topical story, well packaged with as strong an image set as one can have for a “non-game” story. Good factbox information too, which also includes information for those readers seeking help with fees: education many a reader can actually use. This is a perfect example of good enterprise journalism. Though it would have been very interesting to compare fees with communities of a similar population base across the country, this is a perfect example of going beyond a “gamer” to delve into the core of modern sports and recreation - hence the deserved 15/15 on “relevance to community.”

PORT PERRY STAR

Brad Kelly shows us a powerful topic, and timely. There were some challenges with the story, despite its strength. The lead (or lede, for you old-timers), was overly long – the reader didn’t need to know in the lead why Trafford committed suicide. The story makes the top three due to its topic. However, it needed something a bit more potent – statistics about teen suicide; information from, say, the OHA on mental health awareness efforts; input from a counsellor, or views of some other expert.

Vern Faulkner Editor Saint Croix Courier St.

Stephen, NB

Faulkner has served in both the community newspaper and daily newspaper industry for the past 18 years, and has written for a variety of magazine publications as well. He entered the industry writing about sports, and retains his connection to community sports through his writing and his photography. And, just in case that’s not enough, in his spare time, he also officiates sports, and is qualified to oversee soccer, lacrosse and football contests.

3rd

Clarington This Week – Emotion. It lies at the heart of every gripping sports story, and in this case, Brian McNair recognized the emotional conflict of a young man playing hockey in the shadow of his father’s death. This simply written, flowing piece grips the reader from the outset, and speaks to the power of “team” as a second family. Well done. I felt the story could have used a third source. Maybe (maybe) the mother, but certainly a team-mate ... could have added to the end result?

Nunavut News/North – Sometimes, what sets a story apart is simply that blend of the really blasted odd - and the Nunavut News/North nailed that element. Here’s props to the reporter, Casey Lessard, actually going out in the boat into the frozen waters, and then engaging in some really basic - but truly effective - storytelling. The flow overcame some minor style/grammar glitches. The non-modular layout was a bit awkward, one should note.

GENERAL COMMENT

The good: There were several newspapers in this field clearly treating sports and recreation as a passion, and as a means of engaging readership. It is evident some papers realize it’s not sufficient to do just the basic “gamer” we all do from time to time. A handful of entries rapidly emerged as powerful pieces, and it should be noted the top stories all introduced or fed from some form of conflict beyond that of the everyday sport field or recreational venue. What made those stories powerful is the writers, who brought the reader closer to the conflict, be that an external conflict (high fees for kids) or internal (injuries, depression). The bad: There were many stories with CP style and grammar issues. Another critical issue: many paginators did not heed basic layout principles and many stories were “jumped” or “turned” in mid-sentence, some even turned in mid-word. The ugly: There were a number of entries in this field with stories whose main subjects were, staggeringly, not interviewed at all! There is no reason not to speak to athletes of a certain age (13+) and sometimes, 10-year-olds can say amazing things. More than a few were either one-source stories, or stories largely based on one source. Sometimes that works, but it’s rare. Many stories didn’t have basic corroboration of claims made by athletes/coaches/participants.

71 entries

ELMIRAWOOLWICH OBSERVER – STEVE GALEA

Steve Galea’s terrific imagination made all three columns stand out and gave this reader the “out loud” laughs she looks for in a good cartoon, column or comedy show. And excellent wordsmithing. Good job!

HUMOUR COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR

Joyce Webster Publisher

East Central Alberta Review

Coronation, AB

Publisher Joyce Webster has been in the newspaper business for 34 years. In a small paper, she’s done everything from reporting to photography, to management and has taken a 1200 paid circulation newspaper to a very successful TMC regional community newspaper that covers east central Alberta.

MANOTICK MESSENGER – JEFF MORRIS

Very entertaining and I couldn’t wait to read the next column by Jeff Morris on the Cuba trip and Lululemon visit. All was cleverly written and gave me that out loud laugh. Very good!

HONOURABLE MENTION

WATERLOO CHRONICLE – BOB VRBANAC

Good imagination on your topics, Bob Vrbanac! The column on goalies was weaker when it came to humour.

Orillia Today - Frank Matys – Very good variety in your writing topics and creativity as demonstrated in haircut court appearance. Keep up the good work.

GENERAL COMMENT

Writing real humour columns can be excruciatingly difficult, especially if it’s on a regular basis. Most of these columns were interesting, some only factual but very few went to the level of ‘out loud’ laughs and chuckles of enjoyment. So after spending many hours Sunday afternoon consuming coffee, calories and getting my fix on old country quietly playing in the background to break the monotony of a quiet house with, ‘lonesome whistle blowing my blues away’, I (some might consider me a sourpuss) found a few that gave me that laugh that I was looking for. First place was pretty obvious as the “Bear” company used tremendous imagination to come up with all those reasons we need bears in our yard; then the words used to describe wrestling with the sweater gave me such a “visual” that I’m still chuckling and finally the “creaking knees” and “beans”! Oh my, maybe I’m giving away my age! Congratulations to all writers and don’t give up in your endeavours to write humour. A laugh a day keeps the doctor away!

PREMIER AWARDS

OTTAWA EMBASSY – JIM CRESKEY

1st

writer who is adept at PLACE

One of the best pure writers of the bunch. Very good at relating a story. Jim Creskey is clearly a veteran and polished writer who is adept at sharing his experiences. Biggest criticism? These were very long pieces and I am certain that even engaged ones tuned out due to the overwhelming length.

OF THE YEAR

33 entries

Darryl Mills Managing Editor

Prince Albert Daily Herald

Prince Albert, SK

Darryl Mills has been in the newspaper industry for virtually all of his adult life. He is currently the managing editor of the Prince Albert Daily Herald and regional editorial coordinator for TC Media Saskatchewan. Darryl also spent over a decade in Alberta, first as the editor of the Cochrane Times, then serving as publisher in Cochrane, as well as the Airdrie Echo, Banff Crag and Canyon and Canmore Leader. Darryl is active in the community, and has been an amateur football referee, active in community theatre, and has served on a number of boards and other volunteer roles over the years. A personal highlight for Darryl was working the 2009 Grey Cup in Calgary as a ball boy.

MANOTICK MESSENGER – JEFF MORRIS

Poignant. Powerful. The more I read the more I wanted to keep going. Jeff Morris is an exceptional story-teller who does a great job getting to the heart of the matter in compelling fashion.

HONOURABLE MENTION

WHAT’S UP MUSKOKA – JACK HUTTON

Good variety of topics and handled well. I would imagine Jack Hutton’s column is a popular read in this area.

PLACE 3rd

Stouffville Sun-Tribune - Jim Mason – I enjoyed this writer’s ability to get clear messages across about important and varied topics without needing one 200-plus words. Concise and effective.

GENERAL COMMENT

Wow, what a collection of great reads. Seriously, there was a lot of good stuff here and it was enjoyable to go through all of these. Let me say, the difference between first place and second place was razor-thin, even though the styles of writing were night and day different with night and day different topics as well. Same goes for third place and the honourable mention – razor-thin between the two – and not much separating the top 4 from each other overall. Backgrounds still writing impactful columns for massive readerships. Meanwhile, far less experienced writers are doing smaller scale stuff for a smaller audience that can be just as, or even more, impactful in their communities. In some cases, this category feels like a collection of Davids versus a collection of Goliaths. In this case, one of the Goliaths won, but he was full marks for his victory.

DUNDAS STAR NEWS – CRAIG CAMPBELL

It is apparent from Craig Campbell’s stories that he is willing and eager to tackle the tough stuff. “What’s coming down the track” covered all the essentials of a complex feature, showing why the story matters to local people by using their voices in the main story; and using sidebars, stories and fact boxes to offer up other details. Made for a very informative and easy to read feature. A good example for other reporters who might wonder how to take on more complex stories. Break it down and use smaller stories to give readers the big picture. Well done.

HONOURABLE MENTION

OSHAWA THIS WEEK – JILLIAN FOLLERT

Compelling is the best way to describe Jillian Follert’s writing. Each of her stories had me hooked from the beginning, and engaged to the end. Though the topics are complex, Follert’s writing breaks down the complexity to get to the heart of the story, and the people impacted. Very good use of sidebars, especially in the “A Dying Man’s Wish” story, to provide a quick read of additional facts. Well done.

REPORTER OF THE YEAR - STEPHEN SHAW AWARD Barbara DeanSimmons Regional Editor TC Media NF

11 entries

Barbara Dean-Simmons is Regional Editor for a group of TC Media community newspapers in Newfoundland and Labrador: The Packet in Clarenville, The Southern Gazette in Marystown, The Gander Beacon, The Lewisporte Pilot and The Advertiser in Grand Falls-Windsor. Barbara got her start in the newspaper industry in 1980 as a reporter with The Packet. Over the years she has collected many awards from the Atlantic Community Newspapers Association, the Canadian Community Newspapers Association, and the Atlantic Journalism Awards, for news and feature news writing, editorials, community service and investigative reporting.

KAWARTHA LAKES THIS WEEK

– MARY RILEY

“A hammer lying near the pillow is the first clue her son is not feeling safe.” A round of applause to Mary Riley for writing a lead that says so much in so few words, and makes the reader want to read more. Tackling the issue of mental illness, and being able to step into the world of a family of a mentally ill son to let others know what that world is like, takes a certain skill. I was hooked on the first installment, right to the last sentence “She got rid of the sharp knives.” Powerful words that showed the reality of families dealing with mental illness. Very deserving of an award.

New Hamburg Independent - Scott Miller Cressman – How’s this for variety. From the perspective of tackling city streets as a bicyclist, to tagging along with firefighters on a training course, to tackling the issue of family violence from the perspective of a woman who has endured the reality; Scott Miller Cressman’s middle name must be “versatile.” For the first two stories, there was a sense that he had great fun doing this. In the case of the family violence story, he was able to take a tough issue and write about it clearly, taking the human interest approach balanced with facts. Good job.

GENERAL COMMENT

To sum it up, I’m so very excited to see that storytelling is alive and well in Canada, and reporters are willing to tackle the tough stuff. Some entries, though, stood out from the rest and I have to say that of the top four, it was very difficult to choose a winner. They each offered up excellent writing and interesting issues. Overall, I enjoyed the stories in this category. I encourage each of the reporters who entered to continue to dig for the stories that matter, and to tell the stories that impact local people and communities. If I could make a couple of suggestions, it would be these: shorter sentences make it easier for the reader to follow the story; and, follow the example of the winners and use short sidebars and fact boxes to break out the information on the page, for a more appealing presentation and a main story that allows the reader to continue reading without getting bogged down in dry information. Stay well, and keep writing.

Sponsored by Ontario Power Generation

1st

MISSISSAUGA NEWS – PATRICIA LONERGAN

Patricia Lonergan may well represent an upward spike in the evolutionary curve of editors-in-chief. Her entry was judged to be the best because she employs all the skills required of the modern editor to great effect, and does so in what her nominators would describe as an “enlightened” work environment. She should give seminars because she has much to share.

Terry McConnell Author/Columnist Palm Springs, CA

Terry McConnell has been a bestselling author, a high-profile columnist for one of Canada’s largest newspapers, and a president of OCNA. He grew up with community newspapers – his father was also an OCNA president – before he began his own career in Dundas in 1973. For 20 years, Terry was the publisher in Tilbury, Belle River and St. Clair Beach and during that time, his newspapers won more than 100 awards for newspaper excellence. Terry was also recognized nationally and provincially for his column and editorial writing. He served as president of OCNA in 1986 and of CCNA in 1993, and in 1990 was the recipient of the OCNA President’s Award for his contribution to the industry. Terry relocated to Alberta in 1995, was publisher of See Magazine in Edmonton and an editor for Alberta Report magazine, and for 12 years was a columnist and editorial writer for the Edmonton Journal. In 2009, Key Porter Books published Terry’s first book, titled I’d Trade Him Again, a biography of Peter Pocklington, the former owner of the Edmonton Oilers made famous for trading Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. Today, Terry lives in Palm Springs, California, where he works as a communications advisor for a resource company.

PARRY SOUND NORTH STAR – JACK TYNAN

The rules that govern the judging dictate Jack Tynan came second in this category. But if Patricia Lonergan is No. 1, then Tynan is 1A. So what separated them? Lonergan perhaps faced a greater challenge, yet Tynan’s achievement is no less complete. Moreover, it is obvious from the supporting documentation that Tynan’s newsrooms are as loyal to him as he is to his craft.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 2nd

CORNWALL SEAWAY NEWS – TODD LIHOU

The evidence makes it clear Todd Lihou has had a tremendously positive influence on his newspaper and on its fortunes. He is the editor every community deserves.

PLACE 3rd

Reading through the entries -- as enjoyable a task as it has been -- reminds me that those who aspire to be successful community newspaper editors these days face difficult challenges in an environment that, at best, can be described as fluid. Yet I am confident there are dozens upon dozens of editors in Ontario who are as skilled and as successful as those who submitted to judgment here. I hope they will let their names stand for consideration in the future. Until then, there is much to learn from the remarkable individuals honoured in this year’s Editor of the Year category. They are dedicated to their craft and their communities, and are deserving of this special recognition.

PREMIER AWARDS

MISSISSAUGA NEWS

51

Judge

TORONTO EAST YORK MIRROR

Great photo. Great positioning. Great framing. Great focus to capture a moving object, the foreground and the happy faces in the background. All around great shot by Dan Pearce. PLACE

2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

GENERAL COMMENT

3rd

David Parterson’s photo has the whole package. Not only is it colourful, it’s energetic, spontaneous, uplifting... Did I say colourful? And it’s also technically sound. Well done. PLACE

Anthony Bonaparte Associate Editor The Suburban St. Laurent, QC

For the past nine years, Anthony Bonaparte has been the associate editor, as well as Features, Arts and Special Sections editor at The Suburban, Quebec’s largest English weekly newspaper. In his 16 years in the industry, he’s won numerous North American (SNA/LMA), Canadian (CCNA) and Quebec (QCNA) community newspaper awards for his writing and editing, as well as the editorial cartoons he has published for more than 20 years under the pen name, Napoleon.

SUDBURY NORTHERN LIFE

Arron Pickard gives us a captivating photo. Original. Well done.

Milton Canadian Champion – Beautiful photo by Eric Riehl. The natural monotone with a splash of yellow. Crisp. Well done and refreshing.

I must say that the province of Ontario is blessed with some excellent community newspapers and some of the country’s finest photographers and photo journalists. Judging this category was not easy. Many of the photos entered were worthy but thankfully the clear criteria provided to the judges made picking the winners possible. Congratulations to all.

28

HALIBURTON COUNTY ECHO

This is the kind of thing we at community newspapers have to photograph all the time. Most of those photos don’t look like this. Darren Lum’s technical skill here is extraordinary with the lighting making this a very striking shot. Well done.

PLACE 1st

Cowichan Valley Citizen Duncan, BC

UXBRIDGE TIMESJOURNAL

Really great shot, by Celia Klemenz, that captures both a fantastic expression and the water like a cowl. Grabs the eye. 2PLACE nd

PLACE 3rd

PARRY SOUND NORTH STAR

Gorgeous colours. Impressive exposure shows good technical skills. Great pic by Wayne Shaw!

HONOURABLE MENTION

Glanbrook Gazette – Wonderful expression, great composition. Tamara Botting’s photo pops from the page. Mount Forest Confederate – Great colour, expression and technical ability by Chris Clark, in catching them all in focus in flight, as it were. Slightly unfortunate that the one woman’s arm is cut off on the one side. I would have like to have seen this run the entire width of the page.

GENERAL COMMENT

The great array of photos in this category made it a pleasure to judge. There wasn’t a single dud in the bunch, and the choice between the top handful was difficult. The technical acumen shown in the top three photos, as well as the two honourable mentions, really set them apart from the pack. In general my advice for the field would be to try a different angle if you get the chance – try kneeling on the ground or finding a vantage point from above. There were lots of photos that had great subject matter, but taking a look from a new perspective can really make your photo stand out.

Andrea Rondeau Editor

PREMIER AWARDS

BEST PHOTO LAYOUT

CREEMORE ECHO

Sara Hershoff made great use of old photos. Background photo adds colourful impact but not overbearing. Good design with clean lines. Very visually appealing. Keep up the good work!

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 2nd

MINTO EXPRESS

Great colours and excellent layout. A very visually appealing page. Love the photo within the photo. Job well done Mike Wilson – keep it up.

1st

Darryl Holyk Editor The Minnedosa Tribune

Minnedosa, MB

66 entries PLACE

Darryl Holyk began working at The Minnedosa Tribune, in Minnedosa, MB as a reporter/ photographer in 2001. Five years later, he was promoted to Editor and in 2008 purchased the historic newspaper becoming the ninth publisher since it was founded in 1883. Since 2009, Darryl has served as a director on the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association (MCNA) Board of Directors. Holyk’s photo of the arson of the Minnedosa United Church appeared in publications and other news media across the country and earned him a First Place Best Spot News Photo from MCNA in 2007.

PLACE 3rd LISTOWEL BANNER

Great variety of photos telling the story of what took place during the fair. A great looking photo spread by Dan McNee! Good job!

This was a great category with many, many wonderful entries. Great work to everyone out there. It was very difficult choosing the top three.

PREMIER AWARDS

AJAX PICKERING NEWS ADVERTISER

Obviously great impact and drama. The action flows as well as the punch... across the image and back. Well done Ron Pietroniro!

PLACE 1st

SPORTS PHOTO

76 entries

Judge

John DeMings Photographer/ Reporter Digby Courier Digby, NS

John DeMings started taking news photos at an Ontario weekly when the company camera was a 4X5 Crown Graphic, equipped with a flash and heavy shoulder slung power pack. It was good training in thinking before shooting. He moved on to become a reporter and photographer at daily newspapers, and then a desk editor on a provincial daily. Later he became editor of three consumer magazines before returning to newspapers with Nova Scotia weeklies in Port Hawkesbury and Digby. DeMings has helped train many reporters over the years and always emphasized the importance of the images we carry in print and online. Thinking is still the essential component in photography.

LONDON COMMUNITY NEWS

Not your standard football shot.

Jonathon Brodie captures both the weather challenge of the game and the joy of victory. The goal posts add depth to the scene. While text in an image often detracts, it isn’t too obtrusive here.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

Clarington This Week – Well cropped - good feel of action & emotion.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 3rd

BURLINGTON POST

Great shot by Graham Paine!

The photos entered this year in the Best Sports Photo competition provided a dynamic look at a broad range of the sporting activities in Ontario communities. The best photos went further and made you wish you were there to share in the moment. Sometimes that was accomplished by capturing fleeting action, sometimes by offering an unusual angle, and sometimes by emphasizing the people involved. Always, it involved a photographer being aware of what was going on around him or her.

BURLINGTON POST

A simple, strong photo by Eric Riehl, that has plenty of impact and is very well used.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

Judge

NEWMARKET ERA/AURORA BANNER

Susie Kockerscheidt gives us a quiet, powerful photo that says a great deal about the impact of this shooting on an individual.

1st

53 entries PLACE

Richard Dal Monte has been editor of The TriCity News since 2001 after spending 14 years with The News and other Black Press papers as an editor and sports and general assignment reporter. He has won provincial, national and North American journalism awards for feature writing and page design.

PLACE 3rd

AJAX PICKERING NEWS ADVERTISER

A fire photo that’s remarkable for what’s not there: fire or the usual billowing smoke. Stark image, good impact, well played Ryan Pfeiffer.

Peterborough This Week – This is an excellent, striking photo by Lance Anderson, but the way it was used knocked it out of the top 3. It’s on a dog’s breakfast of a front page, it has an inappropriately flippant headline on top of the photo and there’s a big box obscuring part of the photo and teasing to a lacrosse team preview inside. Short answer: Good photo poorly served by layout.

GENERAL COMMENT

The first and second place images clearly stood out from the crowd -- strong, simple images that are played for maximum impact. The third-place winner was an unusual fire pic, and the honourable mention was a strong photo weakened by the way it was used. A number of entries were garden-variety accident or fire shots. And quite a few entries were simply not spot news.

Richard Dal Monte Editor The Tri-City News Port Colquitlam, BC

KANATA KOURIERSTANDARD

This easily could have been a front page photo. Great emotion was captured by Asam Kveton. I would have liked to have seen it in colour. Definitely a job well done.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

ORANGEVILLE BANNER

The photographer, Jason Miles, captured raw emotion; making the reader feel the family’s pain. The photo was played big, which gave it considerable impact. It can be very challenging to cover a funeral, especially one of a little boy, but this photographer, Jason Miles, rose to the challenge.

PLACE 1st

Carole MorrisUnderhill Editor Hants Journal Windsor, NS

Carole MorrisUnderhill is an award-winning journalist and is the current editor of the Hants Journal. Over the past decade, she’s garnered multiple award nominations plus first-place finishes for her photography, news stories and editorials.

PLACE 3rd

PORT PERRY STAR

When it comes to snapping a compelling shot about the weather, you need to be at the right place at the right time, and Celia Klemenz was. The expression on this woman’s face after the wind whipped her umbrella back is priceless. Great job. Was very close to first place.

Barrhaven Independent – Mike Carroccetto captured a grieving father being helped as he left the courthouse. Quite compelling.

GENERAL COMMENT

It was a pleasure to judge this category. There were several very strong photos submitted that stood out immediately. The one thing they all had in common was showing raw emotion. Any one of the top five photos could have taken first place. Kudos to the photographers who aren’t afraid to get up close and get the shot. Going forward, editors need to remind and inspire their reporters and photographers to go beyond getting the standard grip-and-grin photos. Encourage them to get creative, get close to their subjects, and to have some fun with it. There’s no harm in trying different angles, lenses, etc.

PREMIER AWARDS

BURLINGTON POST –ERIC RIEHL

Good capture of expressions in most photos. Eric is a photographer who is out in the communty. Bliss in election win is obvious, as is apprehension in school days photos.

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

PLACE 2nd

GENERAL COMMENT

1st

PETERBOROUGH THIS WEEK –LANCE ANDERSON

Lance is clearly a photographer who doesn’t mind getting up close and personal with subjects. In the case of Swing Batter photo, a prime example of peak action as ball is actually distorted by bat strike.

Dave Whitfield

Editor

Rocky Mountain Outlook

Bow Valley, AB

11 entries PLACE

Dave Whitfield is editor of the award winning Rocky Mountain Outlook weekly in the Bow Valley. The Outlook covers western Alberta from Exshaw and Kananskis Country through Canmore and Banff to Lake Louise. Dave Whitfield has worked as a community news editor, sports editor and photographer as well as at an alternative entertainment weekly, a professional rodeo monthly and with freelance projects.

PLACE 3rd

WHITBY THIS WEEK –SABRINA BYRNES

Sabrina has some great photographs

mourning

The silhouette of a mom in mourning was a good way to dramatize without overly drawing attention to the mourning mom, and the shaved heads pic showed the fun being had quite nicely.

Overall, I was impressed by the way the photographers in this category got out into the community for news, sports and features, but particularly in the way they handled photos of people whose loved ones had passed away. This is a situation that is difficult to approach and must be handled delicately, as those in mourning generally feel vulnerable. Again, overall, I felt the photographers in this category captured the feel and pulse of their given communities.

PREMIER AWARDS

OTTAWA HILL TIMES –MICHAEL DE ADDER

CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR

13 entries

Judge

Dennis Parker Editorial Cartoonist Gulf Island Driftwood Salt Spring Island, BC

PLACE 1st

Excellent caricatures and artwork. The point of each cartoon is immediately understood. Could put to use some of the empty space around the characters. Further reading to bring out more madness and malevolence would be B. Kliban and John Callahan. Think like them and it could be fun.

Dennis Parker earned $5 for his first editorial cartoon in the mid1980s and was encouraged to keep at it by his friend Adrian Raeside, the longtime editorial cartoonist for the Victoria Times-Colonist. Parker has won several awards at provincial and national levels for cartoons published in the Gulf Islands Driftwood since he became that paper’s regular cartoonist in 2002. He has an idyllic life on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.

PLACE 3rd

CAMBRIDGE TIMES –C.A. GRAY

Nice clean cartoons. No need to search through a maze of lines to get the idea. Distinctive characters. Humour is good, although more time spent in a mental hospital would give them more bite.

PLACE 2nd

OSHAWA EXPRESS – JIM BRADFORD

Immediate impact is pretty good. The space is nicely filled, although sparseness and simplicity can be a good thing too. A looser hand might make the cartoons more interesting. I liked the Mayor Kong cartoon the best. Reading Brian Gable of The Globe and Mail could be an eye-opener and give future cartoons more depth.

GENERAL COMMENT

All cartoonists in this competition tackled interesting subjects and shared their unique vision on happenings in their community and the wider world. Michael de Adder’s artistic ability in particular propelled him to the top of the pack.

PREMIER AWARDS

RICHMOND HILL/ THORNHILL LIBERAL

Big 5-0 voter ElectionFest – Also of paramount importance to the community. I especially liked the ‘Report Card’ aspect. The only thing that bumps this entry out of first place is the organization and visual component of the competition’s entry.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

2PLACE nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

MEAFORD INDEPENDENT

Municipal Election Guide

– Excellent initiative on the part of the paper, not only for the information but for the appealing visuals. As an editor, I know how important the visual component is in telling the story and engaging the reader. Well done.

1st

Carmen Marie Fabio Journalist/Editor Your Local Journal Montreal, QC

8 entries PLACE

Disillusioned with the cubicle life of the high-tech industry in 2009, Carmen Marie Fabio opted to pursue studies and a career in journalism and is currently an awardwinning journalist and community newspaper editor covering the bilingual and ethnicallydiverse region of Montreal’s West Island and Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Quebec. Along with print and web media coverage for Your Local Journal weekly newspaper, she is vicepresident of Csur la Télé community television station and co-host of Canada’s only bilingual community news broadcast. Along with being on the Editorial Services Board for the Quebec Community Newspaper Association (QCNA), Carmen serves as a judge in the annual Ontario, Atlantic, and National newspaper association competitions. Her desk is a mess.

AYLMER EXPRESS

Thanksgiving Food Drive – Another superb effort and so important to the community. A topic that is sadly on the increase, so it’s welcome to see the community newspaper taking a proactive approach in addressing the need for food drives.

PLACE 3rd

Northumberland News – Help over the Horizon - Commendable amount of work - very impressive. While an undeniably important topic, it has less of an impact on the home readership than others presented in this competition.

GENERAL COMMENT

This was a wonderful category to judge and serves as a perfect reminder of what a community newspaper does best in reflecting the needs, goals, and members of its own readership. Ontario is well served by its community newspapers.

PREMIER AWARDS

PLACE 1st

ETOBICOKE GUARDIAN

A unique size is just one of the appealing characteristics of this publication that marks 100 years of Old Mill Toronto. A question and answer section on different businesses give readers more detailed information than just an ad can provide. Large photos on a two-page spread denote each separate section. Visually appealing through every page.

BEST VERTICAL PRODUCT

Judge

Joyce Carlson Publisher, Powell River Peak Powell River, BC

INNISFIL JOURNAL

Stunning photography, stories about 29 real wedding couples, wonderfully creative ads and a 26-page wedding planner made this publication a standout. Although most community newspapers put out a bridal section, this one surpasses anything this judge has seen before.

PLACE 2nd

Joyce has been involved in the newspaper business since 1970 when she started writing hockey reports for her local newspaper. She was then hired as women’s editor, moving on to sports editor, report, editor, assistant publisher and publisher. In 1989, she left her hometown to become publisher of The Gulf Islands Driftwood on Salt Spring Island. She left in 1995 to launch The Powell River Peak. Peak Publishing also has a Weekend Shopper and one of the first community newspaper websites that has been in operation since 1998. Joyce was on the BC and Yukon Community Newspapers Association board for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011 and served as president in 1989-90. She was on the Canadian Community Newspapers Association board of directors for nine years and was association president in 1994-95. After more than 40 years, Joyce continues to enjoy the business and the role newspapers play in their communities with all the accompanying rewards and challenges. Joyce has been a Rotarian for 19 years. She currently chairs the club’s Powell River Festival of Performing Arts, which is the regional host festival for Performing Arts BC’s provincial festival in May 2015. She is a board member of inclusion Powell River and secretary-treasurer of Powell River Model Community Project for Persons with Disabilities

BARRIE ADVANCE

This home renovations and decor publication with compelling local articles and photographs would definitely appeal to the high-income homeowners who are its target market. Printed on high gloss paper brings out the best in the advertisements.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Bracebridge Examiner – Tops among the tourism publications entered in this category. Stories and photos make you want to visit this area of Ontario.

GENERAL COMMENT

This was a challenge category to judge as entries ranged from those printed on newsprint to high-gloss paper. While there were some entries with intriguing content, they could not stand up to others with great content on glossy paper. There really was a divide. Some entries, including second place, were presented in different sizes that gave them some edge and kept them in the competition longer. It gave a different look to the vertical products that had an appeal to this judge’s eye. It was enjoyable to look through all the entries and see the effort that goes into producing publications that fit the community. I commend all the staff members of newspapers for their work.

PREMIER AWARDS

OAKVILLE BEAVER

A clean, snappy look that covers all the bases. Very cool photo played big which is great to see. Very well done.

PLACE 1st

BEST FRONT PAGE CIRC 10,000+

46 entries

Judge

The Morning Star Vernon, BC

Glenn Mitchell is the managing editor of The Morning Star newspaper in Vernon, B.C. and has worked at Black Press newspapers since 1986. He is a former director of the B.C. Press Council.

SUDBURY NORTHERN LIFE

Great pix and a clean design adds up to a stellar front page. Subheads and white space are used very effectively, as well as teasers that serve their purpose without taking away from the overall effect.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

PLACE 3rd

PORT PERRY STAR

A nice artsy, punchy front that delvers the goods. A well-written feature with a great lead carries paper into newspaper effectively. Very well done.

Orangeville Banner – Well done artist’s rendering to go with the court coverage of an important case to the community. Brave move that paid off handsomely. Bravo.

GENERAL COMMENT

Overall the entries were very well done and the staff members deserve to be congratulated on their efforts in putting out great products for their respective communities. The ones that stood out played great photos big and utilized clean designs that invited readers to turn the page for even more. Some great feature fronts that included clever leads and enticing graphics. Great job.

Sponsored by Laurentian Publishing

Glenn Mitchell Managing Editor

FORT FRANCES TIMES

Excellent photo, well differentiated from the rest of the page content by the bounding box. Good mix of stories and visuals. This would make me want to pick up the paper, and that’s exactly what a front page is supposed to do.

PLACE 1st

Carmen Marie Fabio Journalist/Editor

Your Local Journal

Montreal, QC

Disillusioned with the cubicle life of the high-tech industry in 2009, Carmen Marie Fabio opted to pursue studies and a career in journalism and is currently an awardwinning journalist and community newspaper editor covering the bilingual and ethnicallydiverse region of Montreal’s West Island and Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Quebec. Along with print and web media coverage for Your Local Journal weekly newspaper, she is vicepresident of Csur la Télé community television station and co-host of Canada’s only bilingual community news broadcast. Along with being on the Editorial Services Board for the Quebec Community Newspaper Association (QCNA), Carmen serves as a judge in the annual Ontario, Atlantic, and National newspaper association competitions. Her desk is a mess.

SIOUX LOOKOUT WAWATAY NEWS

NIAGARA THIS WEEK, TOWN CRIER

Great page, a nice balance between cover photo and table of contents on the right. I would pick this up off the newsstands. Good job.

2nd

Solid graphic layout and community focused stories. What really stands out is the quality of the writing. Exceptionally well done. PLACE

HONOURABLE MENTION

New Hamburg Independent – Excellent, nicely balanced, with a great photo, the page is engaging while being easy on the eyes. My only quibble is the ‘Passing interest’ text under the photo. It’s too small and gets lost in the mix.

GENERAL COMMENT

Always an enjoyable challenge to judge this category and one that is surprisingly unpredictable. There is no ‘magic formula’ for a winning cover, but rather a serendipitous mix of photography, layout, balance, and writing that, when properly combined, result in excellence. Well done.

Sponsored by Laurentian Publishing

HALIBURTON COUNTY

ECHO

Dynamic writing on a professional level with a nice variety of stories. Crisp and action-packed photos are played to maximum effect. A simple but clean layout makes for attractive presentation and easy reading at a time when too many newspapers are following a cookiecutter design pattern.

HONOURABLE MENTION

WATERLOO CHRONICLE

The story selection goes well beyond the ordinary and makes it stand out as the gold standard in this competition. Great variety of smoothly-written stories. Creative use of photography, especially the long-jump sequence. Layout and design makes for comfortable reading and columnist Brian Totzke gets outside his comfort zone to put this section over the top.

KINCARDINE INDEPENDENT

A section jam-packed (in a good way) with wellwritten and informative stories and columns. Photos capture the action in a way that makes the readers feel they were at the game, sitting next to the photographer. Easy-to-read design marred only by a pair of glitches in throws to the jump pages, but not serious enough to take this section out of medal contention.

29 entries

Judge

Brian McAndrew Managing Editor Games News Service Toronto,

ON

Brian McAndrew began his reporting career at the Tilbury Times and spent 27 years at the Toronto Star in a variety of reporting and editing roles before retiring as Associate Sports Editor. He has since joined the TO2015 organizing team in Toronto preparing for this summer’s Pan American/ Parapan American Games as the Managing Editor of Games News Service.

PLACE 3rd

Ajax Pickering News Advertiser – Credit goes to this sports section for following up on local athletes who go on to greater pursuits at either the university level or the pros. But sometimes too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Local athletes are blessed by their success but this section just seemed to contain too many, and local coverage suffered as a result.

GENERAL COMMENT

I find the level of enthusiasm unsurpassed in all 29 entries although in a few the writing, photographic and production skills are just a shade superior and that’s what makes them stand out as award winners. The journalistic skills found in these sports sections are far advanced from my days as a weekly newspaper reporter/photographer many years ago. If newspapers are to not only survive but thrive in the future it will be the community newspapers that will lead the way.

Sponsored by Metroland Media Group Ltd., Southwestern Ontario Division

PREMIER AWARDS

AJAX PICKERING NEWS ADVERTISER

Digging Belize – This section was a grabber from the first page, and continued to be enjoyable all the way through – an excellent piece of work! Everything about “Belize” was engaging and made the reader want to stop and pour over this section. The support ads in banner format carried nicely across the pages and were nicely anchored with out interfering with the content. Congratulations on an outstanding section!

Judge

NORFOLK NEWS

Focus on Agriculture – This is a great Agriculture supplement with excellent editorial content covering a diverse range of relevant and interesting topics. The judges enjoyed every article! The section is well laid out with local photos and balanced with advertising that supports the piece very well. It was visually pleasing and very engaging. Congratulations on an excellent job!

PLACE 2nd

Dave

Bruha

Editor/Co-owner Consort Enterprise Consort, AB

Dave Bruha is editor and co-owner of the Consort Enterprise, and has been with the Enterprise since 1998 – a small independent paper in East Central Alberta. Dave currently sits as vice president of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association and is chairman of the AWNA Government Relations Committee.

PLACE 3rd

FERGUS WELLINGTON ADVERTISER

Women in War – This Remembrance Day section was a wonderful example of taking an annual, routine project and presenting a fresh and striking piece of work! The classy looking layout and excellent editorial content with nice photos made this an original presentation of a well worn idea. Support ads worked nicely with content and didn’t detract from the visual beauty of this section.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Alliston Herald – Love this section! This is a great way to engage young people with newspapers and showcase their unique values and creativity – it was very entertaining! *Love the “Bears That Care” ad! Congratulations on a unique and enjoyable Christmas Greetings section.

GENERAL COMMENT

The Consort Enterprise was pleased to participate in judging the Special Sections competition for OCNA and we were all impressed with the great quality of the entries – congratulations to everyone on some very fine work! It was difficult to select the top three out of at least ten standout entries and we had to involve three staff members, in three rounds of elimination to pare it down to the winners. It was nice to see such a great diversity of sections submitted, with different design techniques and ad approaches used very effectively – In fact we will unashamedly be stealing some of your ideas... thanks! Best wishes to all OCNA papers for a successful and prosperous 2015! Dave Bruha and staff, Consort Enterprise

PREMIER AWARDS

WASAGA SUN

Wasaga Under Siege –

A well organized, well sold, beautiful product with historical and current event information.

PLACE 2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

.SPECIAL SECTION CIRC -9,999

13 entries

Judge HUNTSVILLE FORESTER

Gold Dara Gold! – YES! While the Olympics are unpredictable and honoring a local Olympic Athlete who placed Gold and having her local story reflected is a Special Section – not just a money maker – showing how the community is behind this olympian. Well done.

PLACE 1st

Sarah Holmes Publisher/Co-owner

Gabriola Sounder

Gabriola Island, BC

Sarah Holmes is a 4th generation newspaper publisher, a director of the BC and Yukon Community Newspaper Association, and is co-owner of the Gabriola Sounder on Gabriola Island. Growing up in the newspaper industry was a great way to gain appreciation for the industry and watch the changes in technology from paste up to digital and beyond.

PLACE3rd

EGANVILLE LEADER

St. Patrick’s Day –

This is very well done. Great reflection of a community event.

New Liskeard Temiskaming Speaker – Remembrance Day 2013 - An honourable and respectful piece. Appreciation to the editorial staff photographing and writing about these veterans experiences.

GENERAL COMMENT

An excellent year highlighting local athletes, catching hometown Olympic fever, and getting participation from family and coaches in the news, to advertisers cheering them on. Congratulations on another year of photos, stories, editorials, classifieds, and obituaries, all telling the tale of perseverance, struggle and truths that all communities share.

PREMIER AWARDS

Wayne Aubert CoordinatorProgram and Professor Mohawk College, Hamilton, ON

HALIBURTON COUNTY ECHO

This one caught my attention! A real fun ad design.

WATERDOWN FLAMBOROUGH REVIEW

Just one word – Yum!

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 3rd

Wayne Aubert is the Program Coordinator and Professor of the award-winning Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program at Mohawk College, as well as Course Director with the Institute of Communication Agencies. He brings almost thirty years of experience to the judging panel, including his stints with the Ministry of Skills Development, Brettons department stores, and Ogilvy and Mather.

FORT FRANCES TIMES

Good Lord I can’t “unsee” this image. ha ha

Continue to push your clients to get their ads noticed on the page. It’s a crowded environment at times, but you have an audience that wants their local news, and wants to get to know their local businesses too.

PREMIER AWARDS

SMITHS FALLS RECORD NEWS

A great ad for a great promotion. Very well designed. Good use of space.

IN HOUSE PROMOTION

27

entries

Judge

Darryl Holyk began working at The Minnedosa Tribune, in Minnedosa, MB as a reporter/photographer in 2001. Five years later, he was promoted to Editor and in 2008 purchased the historic newspaper becoming the ninth publisher since it was founded in 1883. Since 2009, Darryl has served as a director on the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association (MCNA) Board of Directors. Holyk’s photo of the arson of the Minnedosa United Church appeared in publications and other news media across the country and earned him a First Place Best Spot News Photo from MCNA in 2007.

CREEMORE

ECHO

Great ad for a common mix up in the newspaper subscription department. Excellent idea!

PLACE 3rd

NIAGARA THIS WEEK, GRIMSBY

Great community partnership. Classic looking ad to promote it to readers. Good job!

GENERAL COMMENT

This was a fun category to judge. There are many great promotion ideas and creative ways to reach readers. Good job everyone. Keep up the good work.

PREMIER AWARDS

FERGUS WELLINGTON ADVERTISER

Professional look, visually appealing. Nice theme. Call to action is clear! Great layout and information organization.

PLACE 1st

.LOCAL RETAIL LAYOUT

Judge

Ivars Leitis Art Director RAVEN5 Oakville, ON

Ivars Leitis is a graduate of the Advertising program at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, specializing in Creative Advertising & Art Direction. Ivars has been involved in the web and graphic design industry for many years, working with various clients and agencies. He’s worked as a web developer, graphic designer, inter-active designer and is currently an Art Director at RAVEN5. Ivars has worked with both small and large clients including national brands like Corby’s (Absolut Vodka, Malibu Rum, The Glenlivet, Wiser’s Whiskey). He’s also worked with Volkswagen Canada, BERNINA Canada, Square One Shopping Centre, Oakville Shops, ADT Home Security, Apps for Health, Dundas Living Centre, and the GoldBook.

BURLINGTON POST

Great layout and theme. Visually appealing.

2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

NORTH BAY NIPISSING NEWS

Very informative layout. Even though there is a lot of information, it has the right balance of text and graphics. Visually pleasing colours and design. Would have been nice to have clearer text in the motorhome layout graphics.

Arthur Enterprise News – A little too much (green) white space on left page. Otherwise visually appealing. Listowel Banner – Colour used well. Nice layout.

GENERAL COMMENT

I found there to be quite a range of skill, technique and simply a keen eye for design throughout all of the submissions. What I found most interesting is that many of the smaller businesses who had submitted their work often times had designs that rivalled many of the larger brands. I do applaud all of the entries, but I really appreciated those going out of their way to ensure their ads have a fine attention to detail and a clear and concise call to action. Thank you.

Sponsored by Metro Creative Graphics

MILTON CANADIAN CHAMPION

Nice combination of the photo and graphic elements to create an unusual and striking design! Good use of colour as well; it really makes the ad stand out. I only wish the talent of the graphic designer was matched by that of the copy writer.

PARRY SOUND NORTH STAR

Striking graphics, sparse copy and restrained use of colour makes this ad an attentiongrabber. Occasionally a designer gets to work with a client that appreciates simplicity and good design. Congratulations to both!

HONOURABLE MENTION

PLACE 1st

22 entries

Collin Gribbons

Founder Union Communications

Toronto, ON

Collin Gribbons has worked in print publishing for more than 35 years, dating back to his involvement in the editorial board of his student newspaper at the University of Guelph. He has variously worked as a reporter, editor, creative director and public relations consultant in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. He is the founder of Union Communications, where he has been a partner for more than 30 years. The agency’s work has appeared hundreds of times in OCNA member newspapers.

PLACE 3rd

DEEP RIVER NORTH RENFREW TIMES

A good design. Subtle colours and lower-opacity category titles make the headlines pop. The illustration gives an air of sophistication. Solid, non-gimmicky typography. Good use of white space. A couple of suggestions: the category names could be smaller to allow the illustration to be bigger. I think a comma would work better than the tab between the dates and times. Finally, because of the good use of white space, a thinner border might have worked better -- or even no border at all.

Niagara this Week, Grimsby – A very professional supplement which belongs on a coffee table, where it would have a long life. Excellent use of type, photography and design. While I’m most impressed with the product, however, I’m not sure “Original Ad Idea” is the best category for it and I hope it has been submitted in other categories as well.

GENERAL COMMENT

This year’s entrants have done a good job in coming up with original ideas, some of them very striking. Good things happen when talented creative people are given room to express themselves. The designers of the ads in this category have added value for the clients of their newspapers. Advertising departments, however, do need to pay more attention to grammar and spelling. Grammatical gaffes and spelling errors detract from the design and message. Fixing them would be a valuable service to clients.

PREMIER AWARDS

ELMIRA-WOOLWICH OBSERVER

This is an effective use of colour, visual and type. The red background reinforces the Petro Canada logo, the image of the store reinforces the copy points and the simple, clean design allows the reader to easily see the offer. It is an eye-catching clean execution.

PLACE 1st

OF PROCESS COLOUR

27 entries

Judge

Leslie Kellow-Hall Vice President, Operations Fuel Advertising Toronto, ON

Leslie Kellow-Hall is the Vice President of Production at Fuel Advertising. Leslie has more than 30 years’ experience in the marketing communications industry in the production and operations areas. Leslie has managed interactive and print studios, production management and operation departments in several major and boutique agencies. Her experience spans the gamut of interactive, CRM and traditional mass advertising. Leslie is an instructor with the Institute of Communication Agencies and has taught the Certified Print Production Practitioner’s course for 16 years and has sat on the Mohawk College Marketing Communication Advisory Board for six years.

FERGUS WELLINGTON ADVERTISER

A colourful and whimsical approach. The reader is drawn through the ad in a natural progression and can easily take in the complex information being provided. A border treatment to contain the ad would make it stand out clearly on the page. PLACE

PLACE 3rd

2nd

HONOURABLE MENTION

NEW HAMBURG INDEPENDENT

A strong use of colour to capture the eye supported by simple illustrations which tell the story without overwhelming the message.

King Connection – A simple and easy visual message. The logo could be tied a bit closer to the copy slash - perhaps changing the background colour could alleviate the need to add the white border which detracts from the logo.

GENERAL COMMENT

The entries presented innovative ways to use colour to augment the ad and draw the eye of the reader. Through using colour the ads stood out on the page and helped the consumer to navigate the information. The entries were strong in design and graphic approach.

NIAGARA THIS WEEK, GRIMSBY –MICHELE LANE

Michele’s endless community involvement shows how truly committed she is to her city and its residents. Her sales performance often exceeds goals, and client development is proven by acquiring $12K in new sales with no active client list. Her management skills are verified by her work with inside sales, her coordination of special sections of the paper, and the fact that she was named Best project Leader in the NTL Awards. Creativity and Innovation (plus sales & client development) are demonstrated through her work as Chair for Harvest Happening and Miracle on King Street, and fundraising for BBBS.

SALESPERSON OF THE YEAR

Judge

Terri Cameron Media Manager

Jan Kelley Marketing

Burlington, ON

Terri Cameron is a Media Manager at Jan Kelley Marketing in beautiful Burlington, ON, where she leads media strategy on a variety of B2B and B2C clients. Previous roles at Cossette Media & OMD Canada, combined with a teaching position at Mohawk College, equate to over 18 years of industry experience in navigating the continually changing role of paid media within marketing communications.

MANOTICK MESSENGER –GARY COULOMBE

Gary has shown great innovation & creativity through his Shop Locally program, which businesses and the community have embraced. Sales performance is proven by growing sales in Manotick by 10% and in Barrhaven by 20%. His community involvement with the Kiwanis Club (as well as being a former small business owner in the area), as well as continual volunteering and fundraising shows a tremendous amount of passion and respect for his area and its residents.

GENERAL COMMENT

VAUGHAN CITIZEN –HOWIE TAYLOR

Howie is a great example of what it means to be an active member of your community. His dedication to non-profits, events, volunteer work, and fundraising (both locally and abroad) are reason why he has been awarded an outstanding achievement award (2007) and a Newmarket volunteer recognition award (2001). His sales performance is large (at $500K), but it would be good to know how much that number has grown in the past year. Management skills, creativity, and innovation were not thoroughly discussed as part of the submission, however assumed that Howie possesses these skills, as demonstrated through his endless community work and success at The Vaughan Citizen.

Overall, the candidates for the OCNA Salesperson of the Year Award have proven that they are not only tireless salespeople, driven by the need to deliver success for their clients and vital members of their news publishing teams, they are also valued and trusted members of their community. These individuals exemplify what it means to nurture and respect relationships in their local area, and leverage their position to better the local news product that is delivered out to their community. Thank you to all who entered, and congratulations to the three deserving winners in this hard-fought category.

Thomas

Miller Editor

Stony Plain Reporter and Spruce Grove Examiner Spruce Grove, AB

Thomas Miller is the editor of the Stony Plain Reporter and Spruce Grove Examiner newspapers, communities directly west of Edmonton, Alta. A graduate of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University journalism program in B.C., Thomas has also worked for the Lloydminster Source newspaper in Saskatchewan, as well as the Airdrie City View and Rocky View Weekly newspapers (Alberta).

SUDBURY NORTHERN LIFE

You’ve clearly invested a lot of time and resources into this website. It’s very well done. Having video on a broad range of news is great value-added content for readers. The website is very easy to use and there is easy access to submitting letters and obtaining contact information. The e-edition was easy to find and access as well. Blogs were the only disappointing aspect of the website as none are currently active. Website seems to be updated frequently.

PLACE 2nd

PLACE 3rd

OTTAWA HILL TIMES

Loved the broad range of content on this website but I was disappointed at the lack of interactivity and expensive paywall.

HONOURABLE MENTION

ELMIRA-WOOLWICH OBSERVER

Good local content. Love the interactivity of the e-edition and how easy it is to submit forms such as complaints, letters or scores, or find staff contact info. Layout is a little bland and “This Week in Photos” has more potential than it’s used for.

Fergus Wellington Advertiser – Easy to navigate and find local content. Clean layout, not inundated with various widgets. Interesting local content front and centre, the way it should be! Could use greater interactivity. Although I like that readers don’t need to log-in to send a letter. Contact info could be more specific. Lots of digital publications available, but not the print edition of your newspaper?

GENERAL COMMENT

This was a difficult category to judge, but I really enjoyed NorthernLife.ca. The reader experience at that website is great – it’s easy to navigate and there is an amazing amount of local multimedia. I was impressed with every aspect and it’s clear that they put an emphasis on multimedia and telling stories in different ways. The independent newspapers were also refreshing to read and I’m amazed by some of the work that OCNA journalists are doing on the web. Some of the websites weren’t as easy to navigate as others or weren’t as aesthetically pleasing but you all had great content. Congrats to all involved.

PREMIER AWARDS

9 entries PLACE 1st

OTTAWA EMBASSY

Clean and bright, simple to navigate. Nice balance of colour. Useful and current, Hot Topics, interesting features, technically superior. Good use of graphics. Little or no advertising.

BRACEBRIDGE EXAMINER/ HUNTSVILLE FORESTER

PLACE 2nd

MANITOULIN EXPOSITOR

Nice layout of stories on category pages and good use of art. The redirect on the eEdition was awkward. Responsive design but the ads did not resize at the same time.

GENERAL COMMENT

There’s a mix of websites in this category. The best keep it simple and use good journalism and design to attract readers and have interactive tools such as opinion polls to engage them. The weaker sites have some design faults and technical issues and try to do too much. Most have little or no advertising. The winner, the Ottawa Embassy, is clean and bright, simple to navigate and has a nice balance of colour.

George Brown is the managing editor and vice-president of Grasslands News Group. He is a former president of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association (AWNA) and a former director of the Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA). Over his more than 30 years in the industry, his newspapers and editorials have won numerous awards provincially, nationally and internationally

PLACE 1st

BURLINGTON POST

Working 9 to 5: Changing Lives – The video here is excellent, really puts you into the workplace alongside that person. Really enjoyed this project. A great topic and story to tell the community about. I wish more newspapers did this. More journalists need to learn how to write about disabilities. Each individual profile was very well written. Photo slideshow was a nice touch, too.

Thomas Miller Editor

Stony Plain Reporter and Spruce Grove Examiner Spruce Grove, AB

Thomas Miller is the editor of the Stony Plain Reporter and Spruce Grove Examiner newspapers, communities directly west of Edmonton, Alta. A graduate of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University journalism program in B.C., Thomas has also worked for the Lloydminster Source newspaper in Saskatchewan, as well as the Airdrie City View and Rocky View Weekly newspapers (Alberta).

2nd

CLARINGTON THIS WEEK

Night and Day – Preferred the still photos to the video, but the combination of the two was probably for the best. Overall an interesting project. The interviews within the video were great. Without them, the video would be lacking a personal element. Great that you had so many reporters to draw on for the individual stories. It all came together nicely.

HONOURABLE MENTION

PLACE 3rd

AJAX PICKERING NEWS ADVERTISER

Local Election Coverage – The map for the various communities was a nice touch for those interested in the region as a whole. Lots of interesting video. The roundtables were great. I’m sure readers love the idea of report cards. Extensive coverage. Everything was easily accessible. Well done.

Mississauga News – Peel Courthouse Shooting - Great amount of content and diverse stories on the subject. Loved the mixture of investigative and opinion pieces. The “follow it here” live updates were also a nice touch.

GENERAL COMMENT

Judging these projects was incredibly tough. You’ve all put an amazing amount of work into these and there were some really creative ideas. The footnote-like hyperlinks by Dundas Star News were very interesting. The Clarington This Week’s video project melded all types of media together very well. The sheer amount of stories written on a particular subject by the Mississauga News and the Alliston Herald was astounding. You should all be proud of the work you’ve done. My favourite read was the Burlington Post’s “Working 9 to 5” but any number of these could be the winner. Burlington’s profiles in the workplace of those with disabilities were handled with grace. The addition of video made me feel like I was alongside those people on the job. Congrats to you all!

COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY AWARDS

23 entries

Judge

Mike Johnston Managing Editor Metroland Durham ON

Mike Johnston has been managing editor of the Metroland Durham Region Media Group for six years. He oversees eight newspapers and is part of a team feeding the durhamregion. com website 365 days a year. He leads a team of dedicated journalists who have won hundreds of journalism awards.

RYERSON UNIVERSITY –DEANNE BENDER

Nice graphic. Deanne Bender gives us a very interesting read with lots of sources.

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO –ANDREW KOO

Andrew Koo gives us a very well-written story detailing the final game for a group of fifth-year volleyball players. Great quotes, great pace and a great story even though the outcome wasn’t as hoped and planned for. Great front page and some good inside photos. This story deserves first-place honours.

RYERSON UNIVERSITY –LESLIE WALKER

A very interesting behind-the scenes look at a fashion show by Leslie Walker.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Sheridan College - Renee Lalonde – Great use of graphics. Renee Lalonde’s story looked at the issue from the outside. Would have had added impact with comments from students at schools where reviews had taken place.

Humber College - Thomas Rohner – This is a well-written piece by Thomas Rohner tackling a tough subject.

GENERAL COMMENT

Many of the entries in the student feature writing category consisted of one interview, with one person. If you want to tell a person’s story, talk to their friends, family members, anyone other than the subject who has some insight into the person they are. The top three choices in this category told great stories on interesting subjects.

Sponsored by Ontario General Contractors Association

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO –ANTONIO BRIEVA

Antonio Brieva has a well written piece that showcases news writing. The exploration of the lack of background checks was an important angle that was not overlooked.

PLACE 1st

22 entries

Judge

Chris Vernon

Regional Editor

Metroland South ON

Chris Vernon is a Regional Editor for Metroland. He currently manages the editorial direction and day-to-day operations of four Metroland South publications: The Orangeville Banner, Erin Advocate, Caledon Enterprise and The Georgetown Independent and Free Press. He has been employed by Metroland for more than 20 years and attended the Humber College School of Journalism.

SHERIDAN COLLEGE –CHRIS COUTTS, FRANK BUTTY, CHAD MASON, CATARINA MUIA, SAM MAICH, JEANYLYN LOPEZ

This is a well packaged story of a timely and very important safety issue. Combined with an attentiongetting headline, the piece stood out on the page. PLACE

HONOURABLE MENTION

2nd

Loyalist College - Shelden Rogers – Providing new details is what it’s all about. Well done.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE 3rd

HUMBER COLLEGE – TRAVIS PEREIRA

A well written compelling read that leaves you wondering what happened to the victim.

All the entries were very strong. However, the ones that truly stood out were the ones that drilled deep into the story exposing unseen complexity in an issue or situation. It’s a skill all journalists should strive for, no matter how mundane or exciting a story appears on the surface.

Sponsored by Ontario Journalism Educators Association

Judge

Gerry Harvieux Editor Tilbury Times Tilbury, ON

Gerry Harvieux is the editor of The Tilbury Times, with more than 25 years’ experience in the community newspaper industry. A former Mary Knowles Community Award winner, Gerry has served as a judge for both the OCNA and SWNA on several occasions.

SHERIDAN COLLEGE –FRANK BUTTY

Far and away the best entry of the bunch. I actually spent a considerable amount of time convincing myself it was neither staged nor photoshopped. This has all the elements you want, and some a photographer can only hope for, like proper editorial treatment and nice cropping by whomever does the layout.

LOYALIST COLLEGE – GABRIELLE SMITH

A very interesting behind-the scenes look at a fashion show by Leslie Walker.

PLACE 3rd

PLACE 2nd

NIAGARA COLLEGE –BRITTANY ERWIN

Vibrant colours really help sell this shot, as does the editorial treatment.

GENERAL COMMENT

Judging one of the photo categories is always a difficult endeavor, as so many strong entries are received, making the final decision on the top three rankings a matter of small differences. I believe the three student finalists this year would have been strong contenders in the regular industry categories as well. Obviously there is some excellent talent coming on the market very soon.

CENTENNIAL COLLEGE –TORONTOOBSERVER.CA

Torontoobserver.ca is nicely laid out with all the information presented in an easy to navigate manner. The feature slider on the homepage is very nicely done and encourages an instant click. I would like to see more images on stories for the homepage to enhance the visual appeal. Lots of social media interaction and a very attractive sidebar make this site one of my favourites. Surfing from a mobile or a desktop does not diminish the site functionality and both are equally good. Very well done.

Dave Patterson

Production Manager

Manitoulin Expositor

Manitoulin, ON

Dave Patterson has been the Production Manager of the Manitoulin Expositor since May of 2010. He is the Creator/ Designer/Webmaster of manitoulin.ca which was voted CCNA Best Community Website 2014 (under 12,999), OCNA Best Community Website 2013 (under 9,999) as well as the OCNA Surfers Choice Award 2013. Dave is also the Owner/Creator of the science website beaverwise.com.

RYERSON UNIVERSITY –RYERSONIAN.CA

First impression is everything and the Ryersonian website has professional written all over it. The fold on the website for desktop is superb, instantly the reader has a wealth of options laid out attractively in front of them. Great interactivity and ease of navigation makes this website a winner. Unlike some website mobile versions, Ryersonian.ca does not give the viewer less of an experience, in fact it is the total opposite. Smooth and easy to use, the mobile visitors to ryersonian.ca experience the same great website as a desktop user. Well done indeed.

GENERAL COMMENT

PLACE3rd

HUMBER COLLEGE – HUMBERETC.COM

Very fluid website. It was a pleasure to surf through the content. The use of social sharing on the posts is very well laid out. The use of 3 columns in the category layout sets the whole website off and makes the search for content that much easier. The only real criticism is in regards to the related posts at the bottom of the website. I would ensure that they all have images or none have images. You could try turning off the related images in the WordPress theme and install a plugin like Yarpp. Outstanding job!

I was privileged to judge the College/ University website category. The entries this year provided me with the tough task in judging first, second and third. All websites excelled in there own unique way and judging was not easy. Keep up the good work, the future is bright.

2014 Insurance Bureau of Canada Community Award in Memory of Mary Knowles

Pamela Steel, Regional News Editor, Metroland Muskoka Region

Pamela Steel epitomizes volunteerism. She is a familiar face within Muskoka, working as regional news editor for three newspapers; the Gravenhurst Banner, Bracebridge Examiner and Huntsville Forester. She frequently attends fundraisers and events throughout the district, and is constantly giving her time and effort to better the lives of others.

At the top of her volunteer contributions is the Community YWCA of Muskoka. Pamela serves as President of the organization and strongly believes in fostering positive change for women and girls. Her focus is on poverty, social isolation particularly for seniors and rural women, and violence against women. She encourages board participation, drives the strategic vision and spearheads numerous fundraising activities and events, including a Lake Muskoka Cruise. She recently participated on a panel during the YWCA of Canada Young Women’s National Leadership Summit and spoke to 120 young women.

“She is a fun, engaging, passionate presenter who believes in the importance of providing young women with great mentors and inspiring them to use their voices to speak and write about issues important to them,” said Hannah Lin, Executive Director of YWCA Muskoka.

Some of the additional contributions Pamela has made include seven years as Chair of the Utterson Community Club Soccer League and four years as board member of Muskoka Family Focus, a charitable organization supporting the needs of all families with young children. In addition she has helped raise money for the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Snow Run Gala and participated

in the Wasan Island Smart and Caring Community Symposium last year. She also recently joined students as a We Day chaperone and attended a conference for community leaders hosted by the Muskoka Community Foundation.

After learning about the financial struggles of the Gravenhurst Supper Club, an organization providing meals to those less fortunate, Pamela was quick to help. She rallied support of the community newspapers and managed to solicit enough contributions for the club to continue with its efforts.

“The secret to happiness, I believe, is gratitude and compassion,” said Pamela. “Volunteering allows me to embrace both.”

Pamela is an industry leader and community role model, which is why the Ontario Community Newspapers Foundation (OCNF) is proud to recognize her with the 2014 Insurance Bureau of Canada Community Award in Memory of Mary Knowles.

The Award is coordinated by the OCNF, with generous support of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). Together, we are committed to recognizing dedicated newspaper employees who are constantly making a difference within their communities. Mary Knowles was a dedicated newspaper employee and active community member who died from breast cancer in 1996.

Congratulations to Pamela and all of the nominees for showing strong leadership and connections to your communities.

OPG is a proud partner in many community and environmental programs and initiatives across Ontario. And with 99.7 per cent of the power we produce free of smog and greenhouse gas-causing emissions, we are just as dedicated to making Ontario a cleaner and even better place to live, work and play.

Congratulations to all the OCNA nominees and award recipients.

2014 SPONSOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank all our award sponsors:

Fort Frances Times

Hydro One Networks Inc.

Laurentian Publishing

Metroland Media Group Ltd., Southwestern Ontario Division

Metro Creative Graphics

Northern News Services

O’Donnell, Robertson & Sanfilippo

Ontario Federation of Agriculture

Ontario General Contractors Association

Ontario Journalism Educators Association

Ontario Power Generation

CLASS 5 (CIRC. 12,500-22,499)

JUDGE SCORESHEETS

CLASS 6 (CIRC. 22,500-44,999)

CLASS 7 (CIRC. 45,000 & OVER)

CLASS 8 (COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY)