Nominations for the 67th National Newspaper Awards

TORONTO, March 18, 2016 /CNW/ - Toronto's Globe and Mail leads all entrants in the 67th National Newspaper Awards competition with 19 nominations.

Montreal's La Presse has seven finalists, the Toronto Star six, the Winnipeg Free Press five, and the Ottawa Citizen four nominations in the competition, which is open to daily newspapers as well as online news sites approved for entry by the NNA Board of Governors.

Other organizations with multiple nominations include the Canadian Press with three, and the Brandon Sun, Hamilton Spectator, Montreal Gazette, National Post, Reuters and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix with two each.

Ten other organizations received one nomination each.

There are a total of 66 nominations in 21 categories, selected from 1,100 entries for work published in 2015. Of 57 newspapers and online sites to submit entries, 23 organizations have been nominated as finalists.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Edmonton on Friday, May 27. Winners will receive cheques for $1,000 and a certificate of award. Other finalists receive citations of merit.

A panel of former winners will later choose the Journalist of the Year from this year's winners. The name will be revealed at the gala after all category awards have been announced. The Journalist of the Year receives $2,500.

This is the 67th year for the awards program, and the 27th year under the current administrative structure.

Highlights of this year's nominations:

• There are 33 first-time finalists. Eight of ten provinces are represented in the nominations.
• There are four double nominees: Jacquie McNish of the Globe and Mail, in Business and Arts & Entertainment; Michèle Ouimet of La Presse, in Short Feature and International; Melissa Martin of the Winnipeg Free Press, in Columns and Sports; and photographer Mark Blinch, in News Photo for the Globe and Mail, and in Feature Photo for Reuters.
• Michèle Ouimet of La Presse is a finalist for the 13^th time. She has won six previous times.
• Jacquie McNish of the Globe and Mail is a finalist for the 11^th time. She has won six previous times.
• The Globe and Mail's Grant Robertson, nominated in Sports, and Mark MacKinnon, nominated in International, are both ninth-time finalists who have each won five previous awards.
• In Editorials, the Waterloo Region Record's John Roe is nominated for a fifth consecutive year.
• The Hamilton Spectator's Jon Wells is nominated for a third consecutive year in three different categories: Long Feature in 2013, Investigative in 2014 and this year in Explanatory.
• Others nominated for a third consecutive time are Bruce MacKinnon of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald and Mark MacKinnon of the Globe and Mail.
• In Project of the Year, there are two entries dealing with the topic of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, one submitted by the Globe and Mail and one by the Toronto Star.
• There is one nomination shared by two news outlets: Michael de Adder is a finalist in Editorial Cartooning for a portfolio shared by the Halifax Chronicle-Herald and Brunswick News.

The nominees:

Arts and Entertainment

• Simon Houpt, Globe and Mail, for his coverage of English-language Canadian films, Canadian TV and CBC Radio's "Q"
• Kevin Prokosh, Winnipeg Free Press, for coverage of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre
• Greg McArthur, Kate Taylor and Jacquie McNish of the Globe and Mail, for their coverage of philanthropic donations to the Royal Ontario Museum

Beat Reporting

• Ivan Semeniuk, Globe and Mail, for coverage of science
• David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen, for coverage of the military
• Katherine Blaze Baum, Globe and Mail, for coverage of indigenous communities

Breaking News

• Ottawa Citizen team for coverage of an Ottawa Valley triple slaying
• Globe and Mail team for coverage of the attack on Charlie Hebdo
• Calgary Herald team for coverage of an Amber Alert for a missing toddler

Business

• Claudia Cattaneo, National Post, for stories behind the Canadian energy sector's sudden change in fortune and how it coped
• Jacquie McNish and Niall McGee, Globe and Mail, for a look into the investigation of allegations in the online gambling industry
• Tim Kiladze and Janet McFarland, Globe and Mail, for coverage of how soaring executive compensation has distorted the business landscape

Columns

• François Cardinal, La Presse, for columns on elders in the suburbs, private vs. public schooling and the closing of a video store
• Melissa Martin, Winnipeg Free Press, for columns on the city's public transit system and Winnipeg's reputation
• Michelle Hauser, Kingston Whig-Standard, for columns on sex education and the elderly

Editorial Cartooning

• Michael de Adder, Halifax Chronicle Herald/Brunswick News
• Bruce MacKinnon, Halifax Chronicle Herald
• André-Philippe Côté, Le Soleil

Editorials

• Paul Journet, La Presse
• John Roe, Waterloo Region Record
• Kate Heartfield, Ottawa Citizen
• Neil Godbout, Prince George Citizen

Explanatory Work

• Philippe Mercure, La Presse, for his series on the centennial of the theory of relativity
• Jon Wells, Hamilton Spectator, for looking inside McMaster University's anatomy lab
• Mary Agnes Welch, Winnipeg Free Press, for her analysis of the crisis in Manitoba's child-welfare system

Feature Photo

• Tim Smith, Brandon Sun, for a photo of a solitary skater on the perfect ice of Clear Lake
• John Rennison, Hamilton Spectator, for capturing boy soldiers falling in behind participants in a battle re-enactment
• Mark Blinch, Reuters, for an image of joggers in extreme temperatures on Toronto's Humber Bay Bridge

International

• Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail, for coverage of two deadly terrorist attacks in Paris
• Michèle Ouimet and Édouard Plante-Fréchette, La Presse, for coverage of the winners and losers in the refugee lottery for a new life in Canada
• Joanna Slater, Globe and Mail, for coverage of the refugee crisis in Europe

Investigations

• Gabrielle Duchaine, Caroline Touzin and Olivier Jean, La Presse, for an examination of coroners' reports into the violent death of minors in First Nations communities
• Renata D'Aliesio, Globe and Mail, for her 18-month quest to unravel the spike in suicides among veterans who served in Afghanistan
• Jayme Poisson and Jesse McLean, Toronto Star, for a look into how an alarming number of police officers in the Toronto area are seemingly out of control

Local Reporting

• Ian Hitchen, Brandon Sun, for coverage of how the child-welfare system leaves young girls at risk of substance abuse and sexual exploitation
• Karissa Donkin and Adam Huras, New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, for a two-year Access to Information battle over daycare inspection reports
• Laura Cudworth, Stratford Beacon Herald, for coverage of a teacher denied time off to accompany his 90-year-old father to the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands

Long Feature

• Sierra Skye Gemma, Globe and Mail, for a story on pornography and healthy attitudes toward sex and love
• Alexandra Kimball, Globe and Mail, for a story on miscarriage in utero, withdrawal from the world, marital strain, psychological turmoil and personal growth
• Katie Daubs, Toronto Star, for the story of Beatrice White, the teenager who in 1912 used funnel traps baited with liver to kill a staggering 543,360 flies

News Feature Photo

• Chad Hipolito, Canadian Press, for capturing a whale boat in the process of sinking; six died in the tragedy
• Justin Tang, Canadian Press, for his photo of Justin Trudeau embracing his mother on election night
• Ivanoh Demers, Montreal La Presse, for a picture showing the eyes of a convicted murderer

News Photo

• Jim Young, Reuters, for a picture of Justin Trudeau reaching down to his mother following his election victory
• Dave Chidley, Canadian Press, for a photo of a protester engulfed in flames after attempting to pour gas on a fire
• Mark Blinch, Globe and Mail, for capturing a taxi driver hanging onto a moving car during a protest against Ube

Politics

• Adrian Morrow, Globe and Mail, for coverage of secret payments to the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers' Federation by the provincial Liberal government
• Linda Gyulai, Montreal Gazette, for a seven-year Access to Information battle to expose corruption in Montreal's municipal government
• Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen, for coverage of the Harper government's decision to build a monument to victims of Communism

Presentation

• Toronto Star team, for 2015 federal election tablet package
• Dean Tweed, Mike Faille, National Post, for three infographic pages
• Bryan Gee, Benjamin MacDonald, Globe and Mail, for Globe Style portfolio

Project of the Year

• Olivia Carville, Toronto Star, for reporting on human sex trafficking
• Toronto Star team for a project on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls
• Globe and Mail team for a project on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls

Short Feature

• Michèle Ouimet, La Presse, for a story on the end of a way of life in Newfoundland
• Cathal Kelly, Globe and Mail, for a story on the Toronto Blue Jays' wild playoff ride
• René Bruemmer, Montreal Gazette, for a story on outdoor skating rinks and climate change
• Randy Turner, Winnipeg Free Press, for a story on hockey and one man's dream

Sports

• Grant Robertson, Globe and Mail, for coverage of Cuban baseball players
• Melissa Martin, Winnipeg Free Press, for a celebration of women in sports
• Vicki Hall, John Kryk and Scott Stinson, Postmedia, for a series on concussions in sport
• Kevin Mitchell, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, for a story on a football team dealing with tragedy

Sports Photo

• Fred Lum, Globe and Mail, for a shot of Jose Bautista's bat flip, which sent the country into a delirium of delight
• Steve Russell, Toronto Star, for a photo of a Canadian baseball player celebrating the 10^th inning win over the U.S. in the Pan-Am Games
• Gord Waldner, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, for a picture of a rider being rammed by a bull after he was bucked off

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 photo of the 2014 Journalist of the Year.

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Our thanks to CNW Group for sponsoring this announcement.

SOURCE National Newspaper Awards

Raymond Brassard, Editorial Consultant, National Newspaper Awards, [email protected]