Postmedia writer, newsroom win two prestigious honours

Postmedia journalists won two National Newspaper Awards Friday.

Ryan Stelter, of the Kenora Miner and News, a Postmedia community newspaper in Ontario, was recognized for editorial writing.

Stelter wrote a series reflecting on racism in Kenora and his newspaper's role in that racism; a demand for ex-senator Lynn Beyak, embroiled in racism controversies, to resign (she did in January); and the need to tone down anti-manitoba sentiment in the pandemic.

The other Postmedia winner was a project from the Saskatoon Starphoenix, called Abandoned Saskatchewan. Done by a team of writers, the project won in the local reporting category.

Postmedia papers and journalists received 10 nominations, among them, two for veteran National Post reporter Tom Blackwell. Blackwell received nominations for international reporting for three dispatches from Oregon during the U.S. election season. The Globe and Mail's Nathan Vanderklippe won, for stories on the repression in Xianjiang, China. Blackwell was also nominated in business writing for a report connecting the fall of Nortel and Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant at the centre of the feud between Canada and China regarding the Two Michaels. A team of Toronto Star reporters won for reporting on death rates in for-profit long-term-care homes.

A former Post reporter, Richard Warnica, was also nominated in for column-writing, for three pieces on living in a major city during the pandemic. The winner was André Picard of the Globe and Mail.

Aaron Derfel of the Montreal Gazette was nominated for covering health and COVID-19. His stories reported on chaos at long-termcare centres and the struggle cancer patients have had accessing care during the pandemic. The winner, Ariane Lacoursière of La Presse, was recognized for her writing on health and COVID-19.

In editorial writing, Heather Persson, formerly editor-in-chief of the Regina Leader-post and Saskatoon Starphoenix, received a nomination for editorials on topics including police oversight and the need for education over shaming during the COVID-19 crisis.

Toronto Sun photographer Veronica Henri was nominated for her image of a mother in a longterm care facility reaching toward her daughter behind a window. Jacques Nadeau of Le Devoir won for a photo inside a Quebec longterm-care home.

And, in the long feature category, Roger Levesque of the Edmonton Journal/edmonton Sun was nominated for his story about coming to grips with an inoperable cancer diagnosis in a year when death seems to be all around. The winner, Isabelle Hachey of La Presse, wrote a first-person account on working in a COVID hospital ward.

Dan Fumano of The Vancouver Sun was nominated for his reporting on allegations of systemic racism in the Vancouver police. A team of Globe and Mail reporters won for reporting on the WE Charity scandal.