Did you “like” these? Our top 10 online photos for 2014

Social media have affected how news organizations present written and visual content and here at Nunatsiaq News, it’s no exception.

We love your feedback on Facebook. We appreciate knowing when you “like” something, because it helps us plan our weekly print edition.

This year, we’ve compiled your favourite Nunatsiaq News Facebook photos based on likes and shares.

And what you liked showed tremendous variety — from photos of elders and hockey players to northern landscapes, northern heroes and northern clothing.

Many of these photos were seen by thousands of people on Facebook and on the Nunatsiaq News website. Three were shot by our Nunatsiaq News reporter Peter Varga.

So, based on Facebook responses, here are our top 10 photos, and a pair of honourable mentions, for 2014:

1) One hundred years old and counting: on June 15, the people of Kugluktuk celebrate the 100th birthday of June Okalik Klengenberg, who was born on Holman Island in 1914. In 1932, she married Andrew Klengenberg, the son of Christian Jorgensen Klengenberg, the famous Danish whaler and fur trader who is well-remembered throughout Alaska and the Western Arctic. Kugluktuk held a potluck feast June 15 at the recreation centre. “Happy 100th birthday to the most special person in this world, June Okalik Klengenberg. I love you and thank you for making me who I am today,” says her granddaughter, Leslie Ann Kopana Klengenberg. (PHOTO COURTESY OF LESLIE ANN KOPANA KLENGENBERG)

2) These boots are made for walking: sewing intructors Kigutikajuk Shappa, Rhoda Tunraq and Tootalik Ejangiaq offer a workshop in Arctic Bay in March, guiding students through the process of making traditional sealskin kamiit. “They did an awesome job,” said Audrey Qamanirq, who organized the course and another on parka-making. “It was challenging but they had confidence in themselves and helped each other when necessary.” The course was funded by the Hamlet through a Government of Nunavut grant. “I feel it is very important for the elders to pass on their knowledge to the younger generation. They [the students] gained both oral and hands-on instruction, and language, through sewing,” Qamanirq said. (PHOTO BY CLARE KINES)

3) Walking for life: Anthony and Ashlee Otokiak, who are blind, walk with their mother, Kakolak Avadluk, in the Sept. 10 Embrace Life march around Cambridge Bay. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

4) Compassion recognized: Sean Noble Nowdluk of Iqaluit receives a certificate of recognition from the city May 13 for his “compassion and selfless act” of withdrawing from the Toonik Tyme festival’s Iqaluit-Kimmirut snowmobile race April 19 to take an injured racer back to Iqaluit. Deputy Mayor Mary Wilman, right, presents the 18-year-old with the award at a city council meeting. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

5) A race to the finish: Bessie Omilgoetek rides to a second-place finish in the Elders’ snowmobile race in Cambridge Bay May 17. The race was one of many events hosted in the Kitikmeot community over the long weekend as part of its Omingmak Frolics festival, which wrapped up May 19. (PHOTO BY DENISE LEBLEU IMAGES)

6) Sealfies vs selfie: this group of Iqalummiut gathers to show their support for the seal hunt and seal products March 27 by posing for a “sealfie” in front of the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. monument. Iqaluit filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, with friends Nancy Mike and Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory spearheaded the call for the photo in Nunavut’s capital — their response to the popular “selfie” posted by U.S. talk show host Ellen Degeneres during the 2014 Academy Awards. Degeneres’ photo earned $1.5 million for charity, which she donated to the Humane Society of the United States — a strong opponent of the sealing industry. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

7) Full moon fever: the view from the Arctic Circle Dental Building in Iqaluit just before sunrise on the morning of Jan. 17 as the full moon sets below the horizon. That’s the Iqaluit airport runway in the distance. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

8) A great game: the Nunavik Nordiks midget A team celebrates victory Jan. 12 with a gold medal finish in the Donnacona Provincial Midget Hockey Tournament. The Nordiks beat a Richelieu, Quebec team 7-1 with the help of a hat-trick from forward Samson Tookalook. Nunavimmiut tuned into the game on TNI to listen to Juanasi Kaitak do the play-by-play from the southern Quebec tournament. (PHOTO BY SAMUEL LAGACÉ)

9) A family and community celebrate Nunavut Day: members of the Ittinuar family from Rankin Inlet wear their traditional beaded amautiit at Nunavut Day celebrations in Rankin Inlet July 9. Like many of Nunavut’s 25 communities, Rankin Inlet celebrated the birth of the territory and the land claim with outdoor games, bannock-making and other activities including the “largest egg toss ever.” (PHOTO BY DOUG MCLARTY/ARCTECH DESIGN AND SERVICES)

10) Bye-Bye sunshine: Cambridge Bay photographer Denise LeBleu captures the final sunrise, and sunset, of 2014. This photo was taken on the bay at about noon, Nov. 29. According to the Nunavut Handbook, the Kitikmeot regional hub will be plunged into relative darkness until the sun crests the horizon again around Jan. 11, 2015. (PHOTO BY DENISE LEBLEU IMAGES)

Honourable mentions:

• Fighting a fire: a water bomber from the Sociéte de protection des forêts contre le feu dumps a load of water onto a forest fire about 2.5 kilometres south of Kuujjuaq airport June 23. Two SOPFEU water bombers arrived in that Nunavik community to battle a fire in an area known locally as the Range. Local firefighters, members of the Canadian Rangers and local volunteers all been helped to contain the fire.(PHOTO BY ISABELLE DUBOIS)

• Raising the rainbow flag in Iqaluit: synonymous with concepts of equality and inclusiveness, the gay pride flag is raised in Iqaluit Feb. 10 to a crowd of just over a dozen bystanders. Several major cities in Canada including Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa also raised the flag to protest Russia’s anti-gay laws while the Winter Olympics were being held in Sochi. Iqaluit city councillor Kenny Bell asked Iqaluit’s director of corporate affairs John Mabberi-Mudonyi to raise the flag, and “he had no problem with it,” Bell said. The flag isn’t being raised to protest the Olympics, Bell added, but “to show support for equality.” Iqaluit resident Anubha Momin said the idea originated on Twitter: “So I asked everyone I knew if they had a flag.” (PHOTO BY DAVID MURPHY)

• Not home, but still smiling for the holidays: some Nunavummiut remained far from home over the holidays. That was the case for six-year-old Victor of Whale Cove, left, who’s recovering from a bone marrow transplant at a Winnipeg hospital. But many family members and friends kept Victor smiling. (PHOTO COURTESY OF LOUISA ULURKSIT)