Premier Awards - Outstanding Reporter Initiative ( Circulation up to 1499,Circulation 1500 to 3999,Circulation 4000 to 6499,Circulation 6500 to 9999,Circulation 10000 to 12499,Circulation 12500 to 17499,Circulation 17500 and over)
Back
Place Name:
First Place
Contestant Name:
Nunatsiaq News (Nunavut/Nunavik, NU)
Entry Title:
Our Home - Four-part series
Entry Credit:
David Venn, Gord Howard, Corey Larocque
Judge Comment:
An entry that blows past all the others for the effort and initiative taken by this journalist and his supporting newsroom to dig into this past housing program, including visits to communities, and finding people who completed the program and those who would support re-introducing some form of it today. The series provides a linchpin for readers who remember the old program, and those whose search for housing today could benefit.
Place Name:
Second Place
Contestant Name:
The Lake Report (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON)
Entry Title:
Richard Harley
Entry Credit:
Richard Harley
Judge Comment:
A dogged example of follow the money, with a tip of the hat for landing interviews with both the councillor who accepted the envelope of money, the developer who gave it to him, and some of the official response. Entry would have been even better if it included what happened to the money.
Place Name:
Third Place
Contestant Name:
The World-Spectator (Moosomin, SK)
Entry Title:
Census numbers
Entry Credit:
Kevin Weedmark, Sierra D'Souza Butts
Judge Comment:
A worthy example of paying attention to the data, and then chasing down every response (or glaring lack thereof) when the data doesn't match observed reality.
Competition Comment:
For a journalist's initiative to be outstanding, it has to be outstanding. The entries recognized from this group all took a nugget of information and then put a lot of additional work into expanding and filling out what readers needed to know— and why they needed to know it. There were easily four or five other entries that could have contended for recognition among the top three. Suggestions for those considering entries here in the future? Event coverage can be outstanding, but in and of itself it rarely requires outstanding initiative. While beats make a great starting point to demonstrate a journalist's initiative and excellence in dealing with a topic, it's difficult for a portfolio of beat work to shine brighter than the work that rose to top from this crop of entries.
I applaud all the newsrooms that entered for creating the time and space for their journalists to do the work they believed could compete in this category.
