Nunatsiaq News honoured for excellence by QCNA

Jim Bell, the editor of Nunatsiaq News, accepts the Quebec Community Newspaper Association’s Best Overall Newspaper award for 2009 at the association’s annual banquet, held May 28 at the Chateau Vaudreuil, west of Montreal. With him is Nikki Mantell (centre), the publisher and editor of the western Quebec newspaper Low Down to Hull and Back News, which took second place, as well as Steve Bonspiel and Tracey Deer, the co-publishers of The Eastern Door, winner of the third-place award. The Eastern Door serves the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory near Montreal. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

The Quebec Community Newspaper Association honoured Nunatsiaq News this past weekend with first place in its Best Overall Newspaper Competition, and at the same time bestowed six additional awards on the newspaper and its staff.

“The Nunatsiaq News exhibits outstanding editorial skills with provocative headlines… The paper is full of interesting feature stories…” competition judge Ross Perigoe said in this comments.

“This paper was easily the most professionally designed paper of the entrants, with complimentary colour schemes highlighting sidebar stories; first-rate colour reproduction of photographs; pleasing layouts with plenty of white space…” Perigoe said.

Nunatsiaq News won first place honours in three other categories:

• Best Feature Page (Chris Windeyer);

• Best Editorial — General (Jim Bell);

• Best Investigative or In-Depth Reporting (Jane George);

Nunatsiaq News also won second and third place awards in these categories:

• Best Editorial—Local Affairs, second place (Jim Bell);

• Best Photo Essay, second place (Chris Windeyer);

• Best Feature Story, third place (Jane George);

• Best Environmental Story, third place (Jane George.)