First-time nominations for three small news organizations based in Western Canada are among the highlights as finalists were announced for the 2021 National Newspaper Awards.
RMO Today is a finalist in two categories (Feature Photo and Local Reporting), while Glacier Media (Beat Reporting) and Capital Daily (Long Feature) are also finalists. The annual competition honours the best journalism from Canada’s daily newspapers as well as community papers and digital organizations that publish original content at least five days a week.
RMO Today, an online news site based in Canmore, Alta., covers the southern section of the Canadian Rockies. Glacier Media supplies news to daily and community papers in Western Canada. Capital Daily serves readers in the area around Greater Victoria.
Their entries are among 66 judged as the best work submitted in 22 categories. Finalists, representing 19 news organizations, were selected by three-judge panels in each category from a total of 869 entries submitted for work published in 2021.
Winners will be announced by webcast on Friday, May 6, at 7 p.m. ET. The 2021 Journalist of the Year, chosen from this year’s individual winners, will also be announced then.
The Globe and Mail has the most finalists with 21, in 16 categories. Other organizations with multiple finalists include:
- La Presse with nine
- The Toronto Star with eight on its own, plus one shared with the Halifax Chronicle Herald and one shared between the Star’s parent company, Torstar, and the National Observer
- The Winnipeg Free Press and the Canadian Press with four each
- The Halifax Chronicle Herald with three of its own, plus one shared with the Toronto Star
- Le Devoir with three
Other highlights of this year’s nominations:
- Grant Robertson of the Globe and Mail is a finalist for a 16th time
- Bruce MacKinnon of the Halifax Chronicle Herald and Mark MacKinnon of the Globe and Mail are each finalists for a 13th time
- Ian Brown of the Globe and Mail and Isabelle Hachey of La Presse are finalists for a 12th time
- Magdaline Boutros of Le Devoir is a finalist in three categories: Beat Reporting, International and Sustained News Coverage
- Kevin Donovan of the Toronto Star is also contending in three categories: Explanatory Work, Investigations and Sustained News Coverage
- Ten individuals were each selected twice by judges:
- Bernard Brault in Feature Photo (for an image published by the Globe and Mail), and Sports Photo (for an image published by La Presse)
- Evan Buhler of RMO Today in Feature Photo and Local Reporting
- Tom Cardoso of the Globe and Mail in Investigations and Politics
- Joe Castaldo of the Globe and Mail in Business and Long Feature
- Marcus Gee of the Globe and Mail in Short Feature and Sustained News Coverage.
- David Milstead of the Globe and Mail in Investigations and Politics
- Vanmala Subramaniam of the Globe and Mail in Business and Politics
- Melissa Tait of the Globe and Mail with two of the three images named as finalists in Sports Photo
- Ryan Thorpe of the Winnipeg Free Press in Investigations and Long Feature
- Kelsey Wilson of the Toronto Star in Explanatory Work and Presentation/Design
This is the 73rd year for the awards program, and the 33rd under the current administrative structure. The awards were established by the Toronto Press Club in 1949 to encourage excellence and reward achievement in daily newspaper work in Canada. The competition is now open to newspapers, news agencies and online news sites approved for entry by the NNA Board of Governors.
Nine of the 22 category awards are named after important figures in the news industry. Two have names attached to an award for the first time this year. They are:
- John Honderich Award for Project of the Year (sponsored by the Honderich family)
- Mary Ann Shadd Cary Award for Columns
The other awards named after journalistic legends are:
- George Brown Award for Investigations (sponsored by the Globe and Mail)
- John Wesley Dafoe Award for Politics (sponsored by Ron Stern)
- Cora Hind Award for Beat Reporting
- Bob Levin Award for Short Feature (sponsored by the Globe and Mail)
- Claude Ryan Award for Editorial Writing (sponsored by the Ryan family)
- William Southam Award for Long Feature (sponsored by the Fisher, Bowen and Balfour families)
- Norman Webster Award for International Reporting (sponsored by the Webster family)
To view this year’s finalists, click here.
