Postmedia journalists honoured
Awards highlight newsroom talent
Postmedia journalists won four National Newspaper Awards on Friday, in categories recognizing their achievements in covering breaking news, local reporting and photography, while The Vancouver Sun and Province’s Lori Culbert was a finalist in the category of short feature.
The newsrooms of the Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun and Fort McMurray Today were honoured in the breaking news category for their combined coverage of last May’s Alberta wildfire and the unprecedented evacuation of nearly 90,000 people from Fort McMurray.
Fort McMurray Today’s staff were among those ordered to leave, continuing to report on the disaster even as they fled to safety.
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 his third NNA, this time in the news photo category for his picture of a grieving father after his daughter was killed in an automobile accident.
Paul Schliesmann of the Kingston Whig-Standard won in the local reporting category, which recognizes exceptional reporting of significant local issues. Schliesmann was recognized 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 Vancouver Sun and Province’s Culbert did not win but was a finalist in the category of short feature for her story about an avid hiking family from Lions Bay who lost their seven-year-old daughter in a rock slide in 2014.
Culbert’s story, which ran on the front page of The Vancouver Sun on July 12, 2016, focused on Elizabeth and Michael Moore re-hiking the same trail 1½ years later with the couple’s new infant twins.
The NNAs featured 70 nominees in 21 categories, selected from nearly 1,000 entries published in 2016. Winning journalists received a prize of $1,000.
The Globe and Mail led all outlets with 11 wins.