General Excellence

Classes 1- 8

Second Place

Minden Times

The Minden Times had a good selection of photographs and stories throughout each issue. The editorial and opinion pages had lots of letters, a spacious layout and diverse opinions. The editorials had clear messages that were worth reading. Photographs were generally of good quality and avoided the use of static images. Good advertising content.

Judges

First Place

Barrys Bay This Week

Barry’s Bay This Week was a pleasure to read. The paper is very clean and the photography is certainly one of its greatest qualities. Local news and interest stories throughout truly make it a community newspaper. Particularly impressed with the sports pages and local features.

Third Place

Gravenhurst Banner

The Gravenhurst Banner placed third in this category thanks to an outstanding commitment to coverage of its community. The Banner presents to its readers a comprehensive package of stories and photos from every aspect of community life. Strong front pages give way to great content inside. The excellent coverage is packaged attractively and is supported by high quality display advertising and classified pages.

HONOURABLE MENTION – The Manotick Messenger’s front page has a clean, bold design and a good choice of main photos. The layout of the paper is generally good. Stories in the paper were very readable. It had good editorials, and the advertising design was bold and attention-getting in most cases. A good balance of community news with hard news stories.

Second Place

Bracebridge Examiner

The mix of hard news, sports and feature stories make the Bracebridge Examiner a paper with something for everyone in its pages. The photography stood out, especially in the sizable sports section. Some of the stories were lengthy and would have been more effective if split into two or three shorter pieces instead of one long piece. However, this paper just looks good and is easy to read. It has a lot of letters to the editor and well-written, local editorials.

First Place

Parry Sound North Star

The Parry Sound North Star begins with a strong front page and follows through with good writing and photography throughout. The paper is divided into sections, which makes it easy to follow, and the sports page has several action photos. Some of the stories were quite lengthy and the resulting grey wall of text was a little overwhelming. It has many letters to the editor, illustrating that the readership values the paper, and sees it as a community forum.

Third Place

Haliburton County Echo

The Haliburton County Echo is a solid tabloid with a good mix of content and plenty of local faces in the photographs. This paper is characterized by big photos and a lot of them, which is great to see. It has good local editorials and lots of letters to the editor. I really liked the “Cottage Times” section, and the great local features. A good, comprehensive paper.

HONOURABLE MENTION – The Burks Falls Almaguin News - Covering a wide region is no easy task. The Burks Falls Almaguin News attempts to have a presence in multiple communities and manages to achieve this task. Stories, particularly on the front page, keep the reader wanting more. This paper had strong writing with good leads, regional news, and organization of the paper into clear sections. The secondary school page brings youth into the paper.

Second Place

Huntsville Forester

The Huntsville Forester seems to know its community. It has solid coverage, and good, relevant opinion writing. It combines good news coverage with a strong dedication to sports.

First Place

Fort Frances Times

The Fort Frances Times rose to the top of the pile for the quality and breadth of its local coverage. This newspaper seems to take its role seriously, and covers a wide range of local issues. It’s sport section was the best in the group.

Third Place

NUNAVUT NEWS/NORTH

Nunavut News

North is a beautiful looking newspaper. Photography and design are excellent and news coverage is solid. It featured a ton of community news, with strong photography and a commitment to sports.

Second Place

NIAGARA THIS WEEK, THE LEADER

From front to back, The Niagara This Week Leader excels. Wonderfully composed photos and expertly written copy make it a great read. Even though advertising in the paper is abundant, individual ads are not confused by similar composition. Staff writer Eddie Chau is a standout, with awesome ledes and quick, concise news stories.

First Place

STOUFFVILLE SUN - TRIBUNE

The Stouffville Sun-Tribune is simply excellent. Compelling photos and headlines, exceptional layout, great news stories, features and photo spreads make every page enjoyable. The use of pull quotes gives the reader a break from lines and lines of copy, and the tight writing makes the paper easy to read. Also notable is the nicely put together sports section, with good use of graphics, photos and briefs to inform fans.

Third Place

Picton Gazette

The Picton Gazette draws the reader in with excellent photography, keeps them interested with tight, well-written stories and uses beautifully built ads to complete their package. Having been publishing since 1830, they have obviously changed with the times and learned something or two along the way.

Sponsored by Metro Creative Graphics

Second Place

Elmirawoolwich Observer

Both before and after the Elmira-Woolwich Observer’s redesign, page design and photography are their strong suits. The design stretches far beyond the default system fonts, and layout is tight, without extraneous white space. The photography is nice and sharp, showing lots of impact and imagination at times. Community news writing could be stronger, which held it back from placing higher.

Judges

First Place

Port Perry Star

The Port Perry Star took top spot thanks to solid showings in all judging areas across the board. Community news is well-written; the photography is sharp, technically proficient and shows lots of human emotion. The layout and page design is very well-done, and shows a lot of imagination and technical proficiency, especially when dealing with local features. The editorials strongly take a position on the particular issue, and the columnists offer a unique take on local issues. Arts coverage is strong; I would like to see more space devoted to sports coverage.

Third Place

Grimsby Lincoln News

The Grimsby Lincoln News had strong community news writing. The different sections focused on different regions were quite likable. Layout and page design are good, but be careful of too many colour screens and headlines with kerning that is too tight. There are some strong examples of photography, like the front page photo of the May 19 issue, although some photos were weaker. Devote more space to local editorial content and a little less duplication of columnists with other Niagara This Week papers.

Second Place

NIAGARA THIS WEEK, NIAGARA FALLS

Niagara this Week, Niagara Falls Edition is commended on its decision to open up space for editorial content. Publishers won’t like this, but many of the papers in this category were dummied too tight to allow for any kind of presentation.

Judges

John Barlow Associate Publisher/ Editor, Okotoks Western Wheel Okotoks, Alberta

First Place

Vern Falkner Editor, Saint Croix Courier, St. Steven, New Brunswick.

Whitby This Week

Bill Phillips Managing Editor, Press George Free Press, Regional Editor, Black Press North, Prince George, British Columbia.

Whitby This Week certainly covered all aspects of Whitby – a great collection of community news. The front page photography is excellent and really helps to showcase the paper, however the image crowds out any story. Good use of white space with well laid out copy. Interesting sections including Business, Arts and Sports. Editorial page could use a redesign as it lacks punch.

Third Place

Milton Canadian Champion

Niagara This Week, Niagara Falls edition was one of the exceptions, with well written, well presented stories. Photography was strong, and the paper covered all aspects of the community. The editorial/Opinion page could use some stronger columns.

The Milton Canadian Champion is a good, strong community newspaper. The paper featured two very well anchored front pages. It had good photos, with a decent blend of ads, teasers, copy and content. The news hole was quite tight making it difficult to be creative with editorial and photos. A very strong arts section, with good sections throughout. The Editorial page could be laid out better.

HONOURABLE MENTION – Waterloo Chronicle. Honourable Mention goes to the Waterloo Chronicle. Strong page one photos helped this paper score well, along with a good solid sports section and colour on the classified pages.

GENERAL COMMENTS – With so many papers in this category belonging to the same company and using an almost identical template for their papers, it was tough to find an easy winner. Content is strong in all the papers and their communities are being well served. Far too many of the submissions among this year’s entries suffered from exceedingly small classifieds fonts, which rendered the sections largely unreadable. There were a lot of very low marks in the classified section – and this is why. Many newspapers continue the practice to stacking left-page ads against the spine. This isolates editorial content, and makes the newspaper appear ugly. No readership study I have seen supports diverting from the outside-ladder theme. Many low marks resulted from this practice. Stack to the outside!

Sponsored by Northern News Services

Second Place

NEWMARKET ERA-BANNER

Community broadsheets are a rare thing these days, but this enterprising paper pulls off the format with style and dignity. We liked the paper’s use of deep photographs on the front page, and its acknowledgement of the fact that the front page photo doesn’t have to be a news photo. The editorial page and the numerous letters to the editor are a great service to the community. The broadsheet space is well used.

Judges

First Place

BRANTFORD, BRANT NEWS

The Brant News does so many things right – short, quick stories, great colour photos, high-bright paper, clear story/section labeling, sports agate, using photos with almost every sports story, a full-colour centrespread editorial feature… We could go on. However, the marriage of serif and sans serif font styles is a little jarring – maybe it’s the blue drop caps. Overall a great paper!

Third Place

Hamilton Mountain News

The Hamilton Mountain News had a good balance of advertising and news. The news is broken up in an organized way, with great layout. The classifieds show readership, and there are a lot, which is awesome! However, we found them a little cramped and busy to read. We enjoyed the little cool extras – recipes and constellations.

Second Place

Durham College

Durham College’s The Chronicle is a powerful, meaty package of news, features and opinion. Excellent writing. Great entertainment section, and extensive coverage of campus sports. Bold, eyecatching headlines. Too many point-and-shoot photos. Use your imagination. Better photography would dramatically improve this paper. Front page could use a re-work.

Judge

Mark Cripps

Mark Cripps is managing editor for the Hamilton Community News group of newspapers. During his 20 year career in newspapers, Mark has won numerous OCNA and CCNA awards for writing, layout and photography.

First Place

University Of Waterloo

The University of Waterloo’s Imprint was the clear winner. Well written news and features, excellent design and clean layout. Loads of diverse and thoughtful opinion. Excellent sports pages, and a true commitment to covering arts and entertainment. A great team effort. Would like to see better use of photos, specifically up front. Front page could use some work. Overall, the Imprint is everything a good community/campus newspaper should be... and more. Well done.

Third Place

Humber College

The Humber

Et Cetera has a nice clean front page and attractive layout. A lot of diverse stories, well written, tight and engaging. Pages are packed with stories about life both on and off campus. Photography could be better.