Globe and Mail takes top honours at National Newspaper Awards

TORONTO, May 5, 2017 /CNW/ - The Globe and Mail took top honours at the 68^th National Newspaper Awards, winning in 11 of 21 categories. The Globe's Mark MacKinnon, was named 2016 Journalist of the Year for his report on the Syrian teenagers who sparked the Syrian war, Britain's referendum on the European Union, the attempted coup in Turkey, and the period of instability that is gripping the world.

The Journalist of the Year was chosen from among the 21 NNA winners announced Friday night at a gala dinner in Toronto.

The Toronto Star won two awards, and eight other news organizations won one each – the Kingston Whig-Standard, the National Observer, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Canadian Press, La Presse, the Toronto Sun, the Calgary Herald/Calgary Sun, and Fort McMurray Today/Edmonton Journal/Edmonton Sun.

This is the third year the National Newspaper Awards have designated a Journalist of the Year. MacKinnon was chosen from among the category winners by a panel of previous NNA laureates.

The judges wrote: "…(MacKinnon) weaved a narrative that details the interdependence of world events today – in Europe, the United States, Russia, Turkey and the rest of the Muslim world. The result is an incredible piece of writing that combines context with storytelling and dogged reporting."

All category winners received cheques for $1,000 and a certificate of award. Other finalists received citations of merit. The Journalist of the Year is awarded $2,500.

The National Newspaper Awards are open to daily newspapers, news agencies and online news sites approved for entry by the NNA Board of Governors. Seventy finalists were nominated in the 21 categories, selected from 959 entries published in 2016. Of 54 newspapers and online news sites to submit entries, 25 organizations had nominations in the 68^th year of the prestigious awards.

Following is a list of winners and runners-up:

Arts and Entertainment

Winner: Murray Whyte, Toronto Star, for coverage of indigenous artist Alex Janvier, curator Wanda Nanibush, and coverage of Canadian-made musical Come From Away
Runners-up: Randy Turner and John Woods, Winnipeg Free Press, for their coverage of the Inuit art movement and the planned Inuit Art Centre
Sylvie St-Jacques, La Presse, for her coverage of a Quebec musical camp and its impact on newly arrived refugees

Beat Reporting

Winner: Patrick White, Globe and Mail, for coverage of Canada's prisons
Runners-up: Theresa Boyle, Toronto Star, for coverage of health issues
Charles Hamilton, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, for coverage of crime and justice
Sara Mojtehedzadeh, Toronto Star, for coverage of labour issues

Breaking News

Winner: Fort McMurray Today/Edmonton Journal/Edmonton Sun for coverage of the Alberta wildfire and the evacuation of Fort McMurray
Runners-up: Saskatoon StarPhoenix for coverage of the La Loche school shooting
La Presse for coverage of the explosion of a truck carrying 45,000 litres of diesel fuel on busy Metropolitan Boulevard at rush hour
Metro Calgary/Metro Edmonton for coverage of the wildfire and the evacuation of Fort McMurray

Business

Winner: Bruce Livesey, National Observer, for coverage of the Irving family dominance in New Brunswick
Runners-up: Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail, for a story on how Bombardier does business in a murky market like Russia
Marina Strauss, Globe and Mail, for a look into the dramatic and fast-paced changes in the retailing sector

Columns

Winner: Melissa Martin, Winnipeg Free Press, for columns on Gord Downie, the right to die and a small-town Pride parade
Runners-up: Stéphanie Grammond, La Presse, for personal finance columns on pharmacies, banks and pharmaceutical companies
Doug Saunders, Globe and Mail, for columns on gun ownership, sex crimes in Sweden and school bullies
Dawn Dumont, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, for commentary from the perspective of an indigenous woman embracing her heritage

Editorial Cartooning

Winner: Brian Gable, Globe and Mail
Runners-up: Guy Badeaux, Le Droit
David Parkins, Globe and Maill

Editorials

Winner: Tony Keller, Globe and Mail
Runners-up: Ariane Krol, La Presse
Jordan Himelfarb, Toronto Star

Explanatory Work

Winner: Grant Robertson and Karen Howlett, Globe and Mail, for reporting on the deadly opioid crisis
Runners-up: Ann Hui, Globe and Mail, for probing the treatment of hens and the resulting egg products
Steve Buist, Hamilton Spectator, for explaining how immunotherapy offers the best hope to tame cancer
Anne Jarvis and Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, for reporting on the long-awaited Gordie Howe International Bridge linking Windsor and Detroit

Feature Photo

Winner: Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald/Calgary Sun, for a photo of a horseback rider out on the range
Runners-up: Dario Ayala, Montreal Gazette, for a photo of a romantic moment during a heavy downpour
Andrew Vaughan, Canadian Press, for a winter surfing photo

International

Winner: Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail, for reporting on Syria, Brexit and Turkey
Runners-up: Isabelle Hachey, La Presse, for coverage of Big Tobacco's move into Malaysia, Kenya and other poor countries
Richard Warnica, National Post, for coverage of the U.S. presidential race

Investigations

Winner: Kathy Tomlinson, Globe and Mail, for her exposé of unsavoury practices fuelling the Lower Mainland real estate boom in B.C.
Runners-up: Isabelle Hachey, La Presse, for coverage of the thriving Cambodian "voluntourism" industry and the fraud artist orphanage owners who drive it
David Bruser and Jayme Poisson, Toronto Star, for their series on 50 years of mercury leaching in northwestern Ontario
Randy Richmond, London Free Press, for his coverage of the wilful indifference that led to the death of a prisoner found unresponsive on a police cell floor

Local Reporting

Winner: Paul Schliesmann, Kingston Whig-Standard, for reporting on the plight of marginalized people and their shocking living standards
Runners-up: New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal team, for in-depth coverage of a day in the life, the history and the economy of a critical part of the community
Joe Fries, Penticton Herald, for coverage of how government institutions respond to Freedom-of-Information requests
Justine Mercier, Le Droit, for the sad, shocking story of one family's journey through the health-care system

Long Feature

Winner: Christina Frangou, Globe and Mail, for a gut-wrenching and sometimes disturbing story of a young widow's life in the aftermath of her husband's death
Runners-up: Amy Dempsey, Toronto Star, for a story on the miscarriage of justice that resulted in a mentally-ill Canadian ending up in one of American's most notorious prisons
Isabelle Hachey, La Presse, for the story of a woman's four-year nightmare in the grips of an impostor

News Feature Photo

Winner: Jason Franson, Canadian Press, for his photo of police directing traffic at the Fort McMurray wildfire
Runners-up: Nathan Denette, Canadian Press, for capturing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waving a flag during a Pride parade
Veronica Henri, Toronto Sun, for her picture showing Rob Ford's eight-year-old son holding a get well card in the doorway of his home

News Photo

Winner: Stan Behal, Toronto Sun, for a photo of a grieving father whose daughter was killed in an automobile accident
Runners-up: Mark Blinch, Reuters, for a picture of a shirtless detainee who had been protesting the not-guilty verdict of radio host Jian Ghomeshi
Amber Bracken, Globe and Mail, for a photo of a man being treated with milk of magnesia after being pepper-sprayed

Politics

Winner: Globe and Mail team for coverage of "cash for access" fundraisers that bring together Liberal politicians and those lobbying the government
Runners-up: Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal/Edmonton Sun, for her investigation into the death of a four-year-old First Nations foster child
Steven Chase, Globe and Mail, for coverage of the Canadian government's $15-billion deal to sell weaponized armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia

Presentation

Winner: Christopher Manza, Globe and Mail, for crafting story designs specifically for digital platforms
Runners-up: Philippe Teisceira-Lessard, Louis-Samuel Perron, Sophie Allard, Véronique Beaudet and Francis Auger, La Presse, for their visual presentation of the terrorist attack in Nice
Globe and Mail team for the visual depiction of the Fort McMurray fire

Project of the Year

Winner: Globe and Mail team for stories on soldiers and veterans who died by suicide after serving in Afghanistan
Runners-up: Sarah Petrescu, Katie DeRosa and Louise Dickson, Victoria Times Colonist, for a five-day series on an overdose crisis
Kristy Kirkup and Sheryl Ubelacker, Canadian Press, for stories of indigenous Canadians terrorized by the emotional and physical impact of sexual abuse

Short Feature

Winner: Hugo Pilon-Larose, La Presse, for a story on the sexual abuse of a young boy by film director Claude Jutra
Runners-up: Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun/The Province, for a story about a hiking family following a new path after a tragic accident
Andrew Cohen, Ottawa Citizen/Ottawa Sun, for a story on the death of his cousin, iconic Canadian singer Leonard Cohen

Sports

Winner: Marty Klinkenberg, Globe and Mail, for a profile of the first indigenous player in the NHL
Runners-up: Mary Ormsby and Paul Hunter, Toronto Star, for a series on the dangers of boxing and its grim legacy
Joe O'Connor, National Post, for stories on horse breeding, an ultra marathoner and hockey parents
Randy Turner, Winnipeg Free Press, for a story on small-town arenas and what they mean to their communities

Sports Photo

Winner: Lucas Oleniuk, Toronto Star, for a shot of personal triumph at the finish line of an Olympic track event
Runners-up: Darryl Dyck, Canadian Press, for a photo showing the frantic hand action around a soccer ball
Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald/Calgary Sun, for a picture of a rodeo rider being trampled into the mud

Nominated entries can be viewed at the NNA website at nna-ccj.ca
The link to the nominated entries can be found on the right side of the home page, just below the Journalist of the Year item.

Our thanks to CNW Group for sponsoring this announcement.

SOURCE National Newspaper Awards

For further information: Raymond Brassard, Editorial Consultant, National Newspaper Awards, [e-mail]