Nunatsiaq News earns two golds at newspaper awards

Jane George, second from right, displays the first-place award she won, for a story about the housing shortage in Cambridge Bay, in the Best Municipal Affairs competition at the Quebec Community Newspaper Association’s awards competition for 2014, announced May 29 in Montreal. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

David Murphy, second from left, displays the first-place award that he and Lisa Gregoire won for best agricultural story — about seal harvesting — at the Quebec Community Newspapers Association’s awards for 2014. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

Nunatsiaq News took home two top honours this year at the Quebec Community Newspaper Association awards gala in Montreal May 29.

Senior Reporter Jane George won in the category of best municipal/civic affairs story with a piece she wrote about the appalling state of public housing in Cambridge Bay.

George, who stayed in the western Nunavut hub in the fall of 2014, recorded some of the horror stories tenants revealed at a Cambridge Bay Housing Authority meeting Oct. 8, including shovelling snow out from inside a house and sleeping in an unheated porch because of overcrowding.

One after another, people rose at the meeting to talk about leaky water heaters, holes in walls, poor insulation, broken windows and doors and mould.

Reporters David Murphy and Lisa Gregoire also won for best agricultural/rural story for a piece on the tradition of spring seal pup harvesting in Nunavut.

The story began with a June 12, 2014 statement in the Nunavut legislature by Education Minister Paul Quassa, and, after a suggestion from Murphy, grew into a feature about Inuit tradition, politics and animal rights activism.

Murphy was also named along with Jim Bell, Andrea Gray and Adamie Sakeeta for a second place showing in the category of best photo essay for photos of an Iqaluit blizzard and its aftermath in January 2014.

Reporter Sarah Rogers, who was nominated for three awards this year, took home two seconds and a third place award in the categories of best news story, best business feature and best in-depth reporting, respectively.

Reporter Peter Varga took home a second-place award for best environmental story.

And last, Nunatsiaq News layout designers Andrea Gray and Lisa Gregoire also took home second place for front page layout.