Starphoenix sports editor up for arts-writing award

The winner of Canadian journalist of the year and sportswriter of the year awards in 2018, Saskatoon Starphoenix sports editor Kevin Mitchell has added an arts and entertainment nomination to his resume.

Mitchell, who took double honours at the National Newspaper Awards last May for his 2018 coverage of the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy, has been nominated in the 2019 NNAS arts and entertainment category, for a two-part series on the joys and tribulations of being a vinyl record collector.

“They’re fun, or they can be. They stimulate the brain’s thrill centres. They provide glimmers of satisfaction. They can also be endlessly frustrating: a chore, a burden, a daunting fixation, a blessing, a curse,” Mitchell wrote in the November 2019 feature.

Last year at a ceremony in Toronto, Mitchell’s wins came for his coverage of the April 6, 2018, Broncos collision in which 16 people died and 13 were injured. He has been nominated two other times for NNA sportswriting awards: in 2016 for a feature about the Carrot River football team returning to the field after three players died in a car crash, and in 2008 for a feature about former NHL player Fred Sasakamoose.

This year, there are 63 finalists from 19 organizations in 21 categories. The annual awards were established by the Toronto Press Club in 1949 “to encourage excellence and reward achievement in daily newspaper work in Canada.” Winners will be announced next month.