The staff of The Lake Report headed home loaded down with armfuls of plaques after winning 19 awards at the Ontario Community Newspapers Association’s annual journalism awards last Friday night.
Among the honours, NOTL’s paper was named the top Ontario community newspaper overall in the largest circulation class.
The association’s Better Newspapers Competition awards dinner and convention was held in-person for the first time since 2019 and Niagara-on-the-Lake was chosen as the venue.
Reporters, photographers, editors, publishers and advertising staff gathered at Queen’s Landing last Friday and Saturday for two days of meetings, seminars and celebrations of excellence in community journalism.
The Lake Report, once again won more accolades than any other publication in the province. With its 19 latest honours, the newspaper and its niagaranow.com website have earned 131 provincial and national awards since 2020.
In all, Niagara-on-the-Lake’s newspaper was first in seven categories, second in four others, along with seven third-placings and one honourable mention.
In the general excellence category, in which one edition from each of May and September had to be submitted, The Lake Report was judged the best newspaper in Ontario in the largest circulation category, 8,000 and up.
The independent judges, all from outside Ontario, called the paper “a joy to read” and credited the staff for strong reporting, good design and “commitment to represent all facets of the community.”
“Feature stories, of which both issues had great examples, make this newspaper a must-read for anyone living in the area, offering a unique product that can’t be replicated by other sources of media.”
NOTL native Dave Van de Laar was honoured as Ontario’s Photographer of the Year for the second straight time.
He also took top honours for Best Feature Photo, for an image of six-year-old Jack Hill enjoying a quiet moment while dressed as a soldier for Maj.-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock’s 254th birthday celebrations at Queenston Heights.
Van de Laar also earned a third-place award for Sports Photo, a page 1 image of Niagara Predators’ junior hockey player Tyler Gearing consoling all-star goalie Zane Clausen after the team was knocked out of the 2024 league playoffs.
The work of former staff reporter Richard Wright was singled out in the Best Online Experience category for part one of his exhaustive “Summer of the Flood” series.
It documented the trials and tribulations of residents whose homes and properties were flooded last summer after extreme rainstorms caused flash flooding in June and July.
The paper’s Aug. 5, 2024, edition won the Best Editorial Page or Section award. It featured five pages of opinion, commentary and letters.
Former staffer Evan Loree’s emotive image of Kat Forbes and Brandon Poirier enjoying the 2024 Candlelight Stroll was judged Most Creative Grip and Grin photo.
The newspaper’s five-page celebration of winning 27 provincial awards was selected Best In-house Promotion.
The work of former reporter Richard Hutton, retired managing editor Kevin MacLean and reporter Julia Sacco for stories related to the firing of NOTL chief librarian Cathy Simpson received an honourable mention in the Best Investigative News Story category.
The newspaper’s 14-page package marking International Women’s Day was honoured with a third-place award in the prestigious Community Service category.
The Lake Report’s website, www.niagaranow.com, earned second in the Best Community Newspaper Website category.
Sacco finished second in the Arts & Entertainment category with her colourful feature on NOTL artist Edward Spera’s expedition to Canada’s Arctic to capture images of wildlife.
Sacco also took second in Health & Wellness for “Room to grow,” an in-depth news feature in our ongoing Code Grey health series. The winning entry focused on the need in NOTL for more health and medical services for seniors.
She also was third in the Reporter of the Year contest, earning accolades for a selection of stories, notably her front-page account of Alexis Dowsett’s frustrating problems in getting access to transit in NOTL after Niagara Region changed providers.
Wright’s multi-part “Summer of the Flood” series was second in the Best Feature or News Series over 8,000 circulation. The entry included in-depth story packages from the Aug. 29 and Sept. 5, 12 and 19 editions.
Editor-in-chief Richard Harley’s strongly worded full-page editorial castigating Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for the lies, pandering and misleading comments he made during a visit to NOTL last summer was third in the Best Editorial (over 8,000) competition.
Judge Thom Barker of Black Press Media in B.C. called it “a comprehensive look at a very important subject,” noting it was “well-argued and fully supported by the paper’s own work.”
Harley also took third in Feature Writing (over 8,000) for his deeply emotional front-page story about NOTL businessman Peter Earle’s battle with ALS and plans to end his life on his own terms.
Community contributor John DeLorenzi’s drone photo of workers and heavy equipment are building a 500-metre breakwall and walkway near Fort Mississauga and the NOTL Golf Club was ranked third in the Best News Photo competition.
The eye-in-the-sky images gave readers a rare overhead perspective of the Lake Ontario shoreline and the massive rebuilding project.
MacLean and Harley also shared third place honours for Headline Writing.
