Journal team, columnist honoured with national awards

The Journal received dual honours Friday for its reporting in the early days of Fort McMurray’s unprecedented 2016 wildfire evacuation and for a columnist’s unrelenting push for answers and action in connection with the death of a four-year-old foster child.

The newsroom won a National Newspaper Award in the breaking news category for its exhaustive coverage of the disaster that unfolded in Fort McMurray one year ago.

The Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun’s team of reporters, photographers and editors shared the honour with colleagues at Fort McMurray Today, who collaborated to bring evacuees and concerned Canadians comprehensive coverage of the wildfire, the evacuation and northern Alberta’s response to the crisis.

“I am very proud of the work that we did in those early days, which is the heart of public service journalism. We provided people fleeing the city with the information they needed at a very challenging and dangerous time,” editor Mark Iype said Friday after the award ceremony in Toronto.

Judges honoured Journal columnist Paula Simons for a series of columns that unearthed disturbing details about the case of a little girl whose name was Serenity and the failures of systems that were supposed to protect her. Simons received a citation of merit in the politics category.

“It is because of Paula Simons that Albertans know Serenity’s name, crucial details about her life and death, and know that the system that is supposed to protect children is still failing too many,” Iype said.

Postmedia won three other National Newspaper Awards on Friday.

Leah Hennel of the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun won in the feature photo category for her shot of a horseback rider on the range. The Toronto Sun’s Stan Behal won in the news photo category for his shot of a grieving father after his daughter was killed in an automobile accident. And Paul Schliesmann of the Kingston Whig-Standard won in the local reporting category for his work reporting on the living standards of marginalized people in his community.

“The wildfires coverage was a courageous display of reporting by an exceptional team of journalists working under very challenging circumstances,” said Gerry Nott, Postmedia’s vice-president for content. “The photo and local reporting wins, as well as the many citations awarded our journalists, highlight the depth and talent in our newsrooms.”

The awards competition had 70 nominees in 21 categories, selected from nearly 1,000 entries published in 2016.