The work of Saskatoon StarPhoenix photographers Michelle Berg and Matt Smith have been recognized at the national level.
Berg and Smith have both been awarded national pictures of the year awards from the News Photographers Association of Canada. The prestigious national awards ceremony took place as a virtual event Sunday night.
Smith won first place in the single multimedia category for a video produced for The River is Hungry, a feature story about the decline of the Saskatchewan River Delta in the province’s north and its effect on Indigenous land users and wildlife.
Berg won multiple awards across the three categories in which she was nominated. She received first place in the feature photo story category, second in the single multimedia category and third in the sports action category, for images and a video connected to Indian relay racing at Marquis Downs.
Berg also received third in single multimedia, for a project chronicling one woman’s involvement in Wheels in Motion, a wheelchair dance group, while living with spina bifida.
In recent weeks, StarPhoenix reporters and staff have been nominated for several awards.
Reporter Zak Vescera was awarded the Goff Penny Memorial Prize in the large market category for his work at the StarPhoenix over the past year. The Goff Penny honours work published in daily newspapers by Canadian journalists between the ages of 20 and 25.
