Coverage of COVID-19, from first-person reporting and poignant pictures to deep investigations and scathing editorial cartoons, dominated as finalists for the 2020 National Newspaper Awards were announced.
Nearly half of the finalists are nominated for work that related in some way to the pandemic.
There are 66 finalists from 20 news organizations in 22 categories, including one new category (Sustained News Coverage). Finalists were selected by three-judge panels in each category from 926 entries submitted for work published in 2020.
Winners will be announced by webcast on Friday, May 7, at 7 p.m. ET. The 2020 Journalist of the Year, chosen from among this year’s individual winners, will also be announced then.
The Globe and Mail has the most finalists with 18, including two in each of four categories: International (Norman Webster Award), Investigations (George Brown Award), Presentation and Sports.
All list of all finalists can be found here.
Other highlights of this year’s nominations:
- Five individuals are finalists in two categories: Tom Blackwell of the National Post in Business and International (Norman Webster Award); Isabelle Hachey of La Presse in Columns and Long Feature (William Southam Award); Rachel Mendleson of the Toronto Star (nominated along with Star colleagues) in Explanatory Work and Investigations (George Brown Award); Tristan Péloquin of La Presse in Explanatory Work and as part of a team nomination in Politics (John Wesley Dafoe Award); and Grant Robertson of the Globe and Mail in Explanatory Work (along with a Globe colleague) and Investigations (George Brown Award).
- Grant Robertson has now been a finalist 15 times, tied for the third-most in history.
- Bruce MacKinnon (Editorial Cartooning) and Mark MacKinnon (Norman Webster Award for International Reporting) are each nominated for the 12th
- Isabelle Hachey has now been a finalist 11 times.
- Geoffrey York has his 10th nomination, as part of a Globe and Mail team in the Politics category (John Wesley Dafoe Award).
- Melissa Martin of the Winnipeg Free Press is a finalist for an eighth time, and a sixth consecutive year.
- Steve Russell of the Toronto Star is also a finalist for an eighth time.
- Andrew Vaughan and Frank Gunn, both of the Canadian Press, have each been nominated for a seventh time.
- Erin Anderssen of the Globe and Mail, Gabrielle Duchaine of La Presse, Darryl Dyck of the Canadian Press and Paul Waldie of the Globe are finalists for a sixth time.
- The Kenora Miner and News received its first-ever nomination, for Ryan Stelter in the Editorial category (Claude Ryan Award).
