The St. Albert Gazette swooped up multiple awards at the 2020 Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association (AWNA) Better Newspapers Competition Awards of Excellence, including top honours for two reporters.
Jennifer Henderson won first place for the Healthy Communities Journalism Award with her story: “Farmers shed light on silent fight against mental illness.” Henderson said she wrote this story because rural mental health is often overlooked and underfunded.
"Many rural residents silently struggle, not knowing where to turn for help. Farmers face a unique challenge, as their industry has higher rates of suicide, depression, and anxiety than any other industry, yet farmers are reluctant to get help due to stigma and access to services.
"I hope this story helped farmers and rural families see they are not alone, while highlighting the gap in services across the province," Henderson said.
Brittany Gervais won high honours in the Best Local News category for her "Outbreaks at seniors' homes" story.
"I remember opening the email from Alberta Health Services and seeing 37 positive cases of COVID-19 at the St. Albert Retirement Residence, and my jaw dropped. We didn't know how many people had tested positive, and the facility care operator refused to tell us. To see those cases grow to 68 people within a matter of weeks was worrying,” said Gervais.
She said the story was about transparency and communication. She spoke with several families who did not know about the outbreak and were having trouble contacting loved ones.
“I was also the first to tell them when the first deaths were reported, which wasn't easy to hear. Families were getting little information from the care operator and, frankly, so was I,” she said.
Once the outbreak was reported on, Gervais said she started seeing weekly notices from the facility to the families.
“The impact this pandemic has had on seniors in our community has been devastating, especially those in long-term care. We need to wrap our arms around them as a community now more than ever."
Kevin Ma took home two awards. He won second place in the Education Writing Award category for his story “ESSMY's high school moves to SACHS.”
Ma said the climax of a year-long debate on the future of the city’s Catholic schools was the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools board’s decision to move École Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d'Youville (ESSMY) high school to St. Albert Catholic High School (SACHS).
“The board's Faith in Our Future proposal had infuriated hundreds of parents, teachers, and students with its plans to shuffle students between five schools mostly to save money, resulting in many passionate speeches at board meetings. ESSMY parents and students were particularly incensed, as they saw the plan's proposal to eliminate their high school as a fatal blow toward Francophone education in St. Albert,” said Ma.
“While the decision to tear those protest signs in half was not spontaneous, the tears that followed certainly were. I suspect this decision will play an outsized role in this fall's school trustee elections.”
Ma also won third place for his story “Bird DNA study underway” in the Habitat Conservation category.
“Big Lake has had no shortage of weird studies over the years (bird-detecting radar, anyone?), but this one certainly came out of left field. I mean, why not spot birds using your eyes? But this study showed how DNA could also be used to spot rare species, and could help officials better protect birds in remote areas. I somehow doubt DNA analysis will replace binoculars anytime soon, though,” he said.
The Gazette took home third place for Best Overall in the Class D 10,000 and above category and second place for Best Local Editorial with "In a pickle," which took an overhead smash at city council’s decision to erect an expensive sound barrier at Akinsdale’s pickle ball courts.
Top honours went to "Coping with COVID-19" in the Special Supplement or Section category.
The Gazette swept up first and second place in the photography category for Human Interest. Dan Riedlhuber won first for his photo "Best friends" and Chris Colbourne won second for "Through the glass."
"Fire and Ice" by John Lucas won first for the Multi-Photo Layout category. Honourable mentions were given to Chris Colbourne in the Spot News category for "Confrontation" and for the Feature Photo category for his photo "Flower tower."
St. Albert Gazette publisher Brian Bachynski praised the newsroom for its recent accolades. “I’m very proud of the work our newsroom does for our community. The stories need to be told not only to inform, but in some cases inspire, debate, and affect change. Every day, all of us at The Gazette carry with us the responsibility of working for our readers. An informed community is a healthier community.”
The awards ceremony took place virtually on May 28.
