Three Record journalists win provincial newspaper awards
WATERLOO REGION — Three Record journalists have been honoured for their work, winning Ontario Newspaper Awards.
á Luisa D’Amato won the award for column writing.
á Josh Brown won the sports writing award.
á Peter Lee won the award for feature photography. Lee retired from the Record in December after almost 28 years at the paper.
The 2019 award winners were announced on Friday.
In their comments, judges said D’Amato was the chosen winner because she “understands that a columnist best serves her community when she confronts its conflicts and divisions head on and challenges the received wisdom.”
Example of the winning columns included her call for a more expansive understanding of Remembrance Day and its traditions, along with her (successful) demand for action on a stalled safe injection site.
Record reporter Joel Rubinoff was a runner-up in this category.
In the feature photography category, judges described Lee’s photo assignment as a routine one that became more because of its “personality, energy and humour.”
Lee’s photograph showed a kindergarten student at Kitchener’s Crestview Public School, marvelling at a moving installation of coloured spheres representing planets at a science fair at the school.
“It is well cropped and has excellent interplay between the subjects in the foreground and background. There is a clear narrative to the photograph and accomplishes the photographer’s mission of embodying the wonder of science from a child’s perspective,” the judges said.
Judges described Brown’s entry as well-rounded and a reporter who understands how to cover sports.
“He’s learned that winning sports entries usually have very little to do with the game being played,” they said.
Brown’s stories included his coverage of the Kitchener Rangers junior hockey team, the back story of teammates and the nicknames they give each other, the intricacies of recruiting a foreign-born player to Canadian junior hockey and the story of a three-decade marriage of a former player and coach to his high school sweetheart. The story offered a romantic rink-side seat to the challenges facing hockey couples.