2020 Premier Awards - Best Feature Story ( Circulation 4000 to 6499,Circulation 6500 to 9999,Circulation 10000 to 12499)
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Place Name:
First Place
Contestant Name:
Pique News Magazine (Whistler & Pemberton, BC)
Entry Title:
Every Face Tells A Story
Entry Credit:
Brandon Barrett
Judge Comment:
This was a powerful feature on an important topic. It's evident a lot of time went into the reporting, writing and layout. I really loved the narrative intro, it transported me to a different time and place and kept me hooked. Also nice little nibbles of poignant writing throughout the piece. The engaging layout and strong photography/art also contributed to this being a great page-turner.
Place Name:
Second Place
Contestant Name:
The Chief (Squamish, BC)
Entry Title:
Home is where you park it
Entry Credit:
Steven Chua, Keili Bartlett
Judge Comment:
I found this was a really good behind the curtain story that kept me engaged from start to finish. The line about Nicholas building homes but being unable to live in one himself was great in that it draws the reader into a world they may not be familiar with while also illustrating the absurdity of the housing crisis in parts of Canada. I appreciate how the reporters went out to knock on doors to get a good cross section of people. The info on local numbers (even if scarce) and winter essentials makes it feel like a comprehensive package, and the simple but clean layout really ties it all together.
Place Name:
Third Place
Contestant Name:
The Chronicle (Ladysmith/Chemainus, BC)
Entry Title:
Finds life atter death
Entry Credit:
Cole Schisler
Judge Comment:
Sometimes a piece just makes you feel a certain type of way for reasons you can't really explain and this story definitely fell into that category. I found Lynda's story inspiring and informative -- I can't imagine a reader not paying more attention to their health after reading this. Cole did a nice job of putting the importance of minding your health into perspective for the general populace. Also just a great lede that makes you want to keep reading.
Competition Comment:
This was a difficult category as there were several standout pieces that were both engaging and fun to read but also taught me a lot. I can appreciate it's difficult to find the space in community newspapers to really get into feature writing mode, so I tended to lean towards those pieces that used their limited space to draw the reader in with narrative intros. There were several pieces that were impressive in their depth of reporting, but they felt more like newsy deep dives than feature stories. Kudos to the winners for writing about difficult topics such as missing persons, affordable housing and rare health conditions in a captivating way.
