Postmedia chain wins seven National Newspaper Awards

The National Post won Best Presentation at the National Newspaper Awards in Toronto on Friday night, with seven awards being handed out across the Postmedia newspaper chain.

The Post won for the edition, Terror on the Hill, covering the shooting of ceremonial guard Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial on Hill in October.

Kim Bolan, a reporter with the Vancouver Sun, took home an award for beat reporting for her crime coverage. A Sun reporter since 1984, Bolan has been at the front lines of B.C. crime stretching all the way back to the Air India bombing in 1985. Last year, she covered the verdict in the 2007 Surrey Six murders as well as a twopart series on Mexican cartels setting up shop in B.C.

Parliament

Another Vancouver Sun writer, Pete McMartin, got the nod for column writing. Specifically, judges picked McMartin based on a trio of stories he had written about playing catch, attending a wedding and celebrating Valentine’s Day.

The Editorials prize was claimed by the Edmonton Journal’s Sarah O’Donnell. A relative newcomer to editorial writing, O’Donnell clinched the prize with articles advocating for Omar Khadr to “tell his own story,” for the Alberta legislature to keep its front doors open in defiance of new security protocols and for Alberta Premier Jim Prentice to call an early election.

Prentice ultimately did call an early election, resulting in his unexpected defeat to the NDP.

The Ottawa Citizen’s Julie Oliver won Best Feature Photo with an image of 14-year-old Jonathan Pitre, who suffers from Epidermolysis bullosa, a rare disease defined by severe blistering and shearing of the skin that leaves Jonathan in constant pain.

The Citizen also took the award for Best Short Feature thanks to Shelley Page, who wrote about what it was like to be a female journalist covering the Montreal Massacre, in which 14 women were killed in 1989.

The Toronto Sun, which recently became a Postmedia Network Canada Corp. property, scored best sports photo with an image Stan Behal took of tennis player Gael Monfils diving for the ball at the Rogers Cup.

Notable at this year’s NNA awards was the first time a journalist of the year was designated. Editorial cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon, who draws for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, was the inaugural winner.

The Globe and Mail took top honours at the ceremony, with five awards total.