The Yukon News has won several national awards at the 2009 Better Newspapers Competition.
This year, Wyatt Tremblay was judged to have drawn the best local cartoon in the country for his piece on the ineffectiveness of the Yukon Children’s Act.
Richard Mostyn wrote the best local editorial in the country. It challenged the Yukon Energy Corporation’s decision to deny the newspaper interviews and information.
Mike Thomas shot the best sports photo in the country.
The News’ stringer Chris Colbourne shot and assembled the nation’s best photo essay, Nation of Mutilation, a gripping piece of journalism about the ravages of landmines in Cambodia.
After reviewing the range of its reviews, comment, features, the News was judged to have the best coverage of the arts of any paper its size in the country.
Genesee Keevil and Jeremy Warren were recognized for excellence in rural reporting for a series of articles they did on Faro and Ross River. The pair took second place.
And Keevil’s outstanding reporter initiative was recognized nationally by the association. This year, Keevil took third place for her stories about Veronica Germaine, who was jailed because she had a mental illness.
The association is the national voice of community press in Canada. It represents more than 700 English language papers across the country with a combined circulation of more than 12 million copies per week.
Earlier this year, the News was recognized for its excellent investigative journalism, arts and culture writing, environmental writing and photography by the BC-Yukon Community Newspaper Association, which represents 114 newspapers in the region.
The winners of the association’s Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards will be announced next week. (Richard Mostyn)