Postmedia Calgary journalist up for National Newspaper Award

Postmedia journalists have received eight nominations from the prestigious National Newspaper Awards for work ranging from commentary and news photography, to lengthy journalistic explorations of wildfires, affordability issues and tragedies.

At Postmedia Calgary (the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun), reporter Hiren Mansukhani received a nomination in the short feature category for his story on the challenges faced by two families who fled their homes in Yellowknife in advance of last summer's wildfires.

Postmedia-owned papers that received award nominations also include the National Post, Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun/ Province.

“I'm delighted to see our journalists' outstanding work recognized. It's especially gratifying to see nominations in a variety of categories — from columns, to local reporting, to photography, and short and long features,” said Duncan Clark, Postmedia's chief content officer.

Adam Zivo, a National Post columnist, was nominated in the column-writing category for three columns that dealt with Parliament's recognition of Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian man who fought for the Nazis in the Second World War; the appearance of “straight pride” T-shirts last summer; and a defence of free speech when it came to protesting drag events.

Writers at the London Free Press were nominated for two awards. Randy Richmond, Calvi Leon, Rachel Gilbert and Brice Hall were nominated for the E. Cora Hind Award for Local Reporting for a project on one Indigenous family's journey through the Sixties Scoop. Jane Sims was nominated for the Bob Levin Award for Short Feature for her story about Salman Afzaal who, along with his family, was killed by a white nationalist terrorist in June 2021.

In the local reporting category, Sabrina Bedford of the Brockville Recorder and Times was nominated for what the judges called “exhaustive coverage” of an Ontario Provincial Police officer convicted of multiple crimes.

Douglas Todd, a longtime columnist with the Vancouver Sun/ Province, was nominated in the William Southam Award for Long Feature category for his story about British Columbia's mentalhealth-care system.

Also at the Sun/province, Lori Culbert, Katie Derosa and Dan Fumano received a nomination in the sustained news coverage category for their extensive work on the affordable-housing crisis.

Ashley Fraser, a photographer at the Ottawa Citizen/ottawa Sun, received a nomination in the news photo category for her gripping shot of police officers mourning at the funeral for Sgt. Eric Mueller, an OPP officer killed in the line of duty.