Newspaper judges salute Starphoenix team's work

Postmedia Network's The London Free Press has won a prestigious National Newspaper Award, while the Saskatoon Starphoenix was a runner-up in its most recent nomination.

The team from the Starphoenix — reporters Zak Vescera and Thia James, photographer Matt Smith, and Postmedia colleague Dave Breakenridge — was nominated in the local reporting category for a series titled Trapped that explored the overdose crisis.

The winner in that category was a trio of reporters at RMO Today, for reporting on a deaths of skiers and climbers in avalanches.

The Starphoenix won in the same category in 2021 for its series titled Abandoned Saskatchewan, which looked at the changes over time to communities throughout the province. As well, Heather Persson, then editor-in-chief, was runner-up in the editorial writing category.

In 2020, Starphoenix reporter Kevin Mitchell was a runner-up for arts and entertainment writing. In 2019, Mitchell won journalist of the year and sportswriter of the year for his coverage of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.

The London Free Press won the NNA for its breaking news coverage of a devastating attack on an immigrant Muslim family in June 2021. The reporting on the hit-and-run that left four dead and a child injured across three generations of a single family was recognized for its “in-depth reporting and hard-hitting commentary,” the judges said. The award was announced Friday in a webcast recognizing the best in Canadian journalism in 2021.

The Free Press package of stories defeated The Globe and Mail's coverage of a deadly heat wave in British Columbia and the Winnipeg Free Press coverage of a nurse who was stabbed in a hospital.

Talat Afzaal, 74, her son, Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, and their daughter Yumnah, 15, were killed on June 6, 2021, when a truck jumped the curb and struck them. The couple's nine-year-old son, Fayez, survived.

Gerry Nott, Postmedia's acting senior vice-president, editorial content, said he was “so proud” of the Free Press, a title that “always delivers.”

“The recognition of our journalists by the NNAS reinforces the level of quality reporting and expertise at all of our titles,” Nott said in a statement.

Postmedia newspapers garnered two other NNA nominations.

Sharon Kirkey, the National Post's longtime health reporter, was nominated in the beat reporting category for her coverage of COVID-19.

Améli Pineda and Magdaline Boutros of the Quebec newspaper Le Devoir won the award for their work on conjugal violence in Quebec.

John Mackie, at the Vancouver Sun/province, was nominated for a feature on a collegial relationship between political adversaries who are both quadriplegics.

Marcus Gee at the Globe and Mail won the Bob Levin Award for Short Feature for a story on a handmade memorial for those who died of overdoses.