Gazette receives 10 national awards for excellence

The St. Albert Gazette has once again been recognized for excellence in journalism by its peers.

News Media Canada announced the winners of the 2024 Canadian Community Newspaper Awards competition in September. This prestigious annual awards program features 27 unique categories honouring outstanding editorial, photography, multimedia and overall excellence in community newspaper publishing. The 2024 winners were selected from 760 entries for work published in 2023. 

The Gazette won 10 awards in this year’s competition in a variety of categories, including first place for Best News Story (Circulation 10,000 and over) for a January 2023 story by Rachel Narvey on the treatment of seniors in long-term care during the COVID pandemic titled “Nobody deserves this.”

“Perfection when it comes to this story, from the words to the artwork used by the St. Albert Gazette,” the judge commented. “Editor and the staff know how to report and present an important story for the community. Our elders deserve better treatment.”

Reporter Kevin Ma won first place for Best Feature Story, Circulation 10,000 and over, for his July 2023 article “Our summer of smoke” looking at the effects of Alberta’s 2023 wildfires on the community.

“This story takes an issues that affects everyone and breaks it down,” the judge commented. “It starts with the impact on a baseball team, then expands on the effects the smoke have on everyone, then concludes with the baseball team. This is a textbook feature of the highest quality.”

Photographer Bruce Edwards won both first and second place in Best Photo Essay, Circulation 10,000 and over, first for an Aug. 23 photo essay “The sky’s the limit” on the Alberta International Airshow at the Villeneuve Airport and second for his June 2023 essay on the Rainmaker Rodeo, “Rainmaker roundup”. A photo from that Rainmaker essay also placed third in the Best Sports Photo, Circulation 10,000 and over category.

The Gazette’s fourth first-place finish came in the category of Best Sports Coverage, circulation 17,500 and over.

The Gazette also took two of the top three spots in the category of Best Business Writing, Circulation 10,000 and over, with editor Jennifer Henderson placing second for her July 2023 piece on Careadon Village going into receivership and reporter Jack Farrell winning third for an October 2023 story on the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce’s reaction to the City of St. Albert’s proposed new stormwater rate formula.

Ma also picked up third place in Best Feature Series, Circulation 10,000 and over for his three-part series from March 2023 looking back at the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine and people from the war-torn country who settled in St. Albert.

The Gazette also won third place for Best Local Editorial, Circulation 10,000 and over for Brian Bachynski’s May 2023 editorial on bad behaviour at local provincial election forums entitled “Get out of the gutter”.

“We’re very proud of our talented editorial team,” said publisher Tim Shoults. “We don’t tell these stories to win awards, but to inform and engage our community. Recognition by our peers in the industry is another form of encouragement to keep doing that work as best we can every day.”