The St. Albert Gazette seized the award for Best All Round newspaper in Alberta at the annual Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association (AWNA) and Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA) convention on Friday.
It also won the Best Editorial Page and placed second for Best Front Page in the General Excellence categories in its circulation class.
The Gazette found success in the Award of Excellence categories as well.
Reporter Kevin Ma was awarded for two of his stories. He won first place in the Excellence in Education Writing category for his story on gender-neutral bathrooms called ‘The toilet question.’ He also placed third in Best Environmental Writing for his story about a machine designed to shrink waste volumes through the use of pyrolysis called ‘The big green machine.’
Reporter Michelle Ferguson was also recognized for her story on physician-assisted dying called ‘Patients wait for right-to-die law.’ She took third place for the Healthy Communities Journalism Award for her efforts on that story.
Photographers Chris Colbourne, Bryan Young and April Bartlett won the CCNA Best Photo Essay for their combined work on a photo essay they created on the shooting that killed RCMP Const. David Wynn and injured Auxiliary Const. Derek Bond last year.
“It is always gratifying to be recognized in your industry,” said publisher Brian Bachynski. “We have a newsroom full of dedicated journalists who take great pride in what they do. Each one of them gets top marks for contributing to the overall quality of the St. Albert Gazette.”
