The St. Albert Gazette was the recipient of six awards at the 2016 Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association (AWNA) Better Newspapers Competition Awards of Excellence last Friday in Calgary.
The Gazette won first place for Best Overall paper and Best Editorial Page, and took second place for Best Front Page among newspapers of a circulation of 12,500 or more.
Reporter Kevin Ma was awarded Best Environmental Writing for his piece “Trashing Morinville”, where he partnered with Morinville Community High School (MCHS) teacher Neil Korotash and his student scientists to conduct a waste audit.
Ma was also awarded the Best Local News Story for his piece “Big Lake blaze creates towering inferno,” where he reported on a fire at Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park in April, 2016.
Arts and entertainment reporter Anna Borowiecki won the Arts and Culture Writing award for her piece “St. Albert Children’s Theatre celebrates 35 years of play.”
The Gazette also won an award for Best Special Sections and Supplements Award for Graduation Supplement. Judges comments on the section were “fantastic cover image with multi-sponsors indicated.”
The Gazette also won Creative Use of Colour in Advertising, credit to Nell Piche and Lori Mitchell.
Gazette photographers also picked up several awards. Chris Colbourne and Bryan Young’s Hometown Hockey photo spread won best Multi-Picture. Colbourne also placed second in Sports Action and third in the Human Interest categories, while Young took third in Sports Action and third in Photo Illustration.
Duff Jamison, president and CEO of Great West Newspapers, which owns the Gazette, says it was a team effort in winning the awards.
“The newsroom is a key piece in what we do, but it’s all the other members of the newspaper staff who do their part to bring the paper together,” he says. “We have staff who are committed to excellence.”
Other Great West Newspapers to take home awards were: Okotoks Western Wheel, Innisfail Province, Olds Albertan, Sundre Roundup, St. Paul Journal, Cochrane Eagle, Rocky Mountain Outlook and Elk Point Review.
Jamison says it was a proud moment to watch different Great West Publications receive awards.
“At Great West we focus on editorial and news content,” he says. “We work hard to make sure we’re putting out good newspapers.”
He says strong reporting is one of the biggest strengths of the newspapers.
