Nominated in 11 categories

Nunatsiaq News staff members continued their winning ways last weekend by taking home awards, five of them first-place prizes, in 11 categories at the Quebec Community Newspaper Association's annual banquet in Montreal May 25.

The awards are for material published during the 2006 calendar year.

Nunatsiaq News won first place awards for:

• Best Feature Page ("Sharing the art of the amautik," Jane George, May 10);
• Best Feature Story ("Life in the passing out lane," John Thompson, Feb. 3);
• Best Arts and Entertainment Story, ("Cool woman, hot words," Jim Bell, Jan. 13);
• Best Municipal Affairs Story ("No joy in Trashville," John Thompson, June 9);
• Best Business Story ("Absence of air link could ground Nunavut-Greenland trade deal," Arthur Johnson, July 14.)

The paper also won a second place award for:

• Local Editorial ("Welcome to Nunavik, the stoner's paradise," Jim Bell, Oct. 20.)

And third place awards for:

• Investigative/In-Depth Reporting ("Police told to cut southern drug operations," Jane George, May 5);
• Environmental Story ("A toxic journey from Europe," Jane George, Feb. 17);
• Headline Writing (Arthur Johnson);
• Best Ad ("Best of the Best," Bill McConkey, June 16);
• General Editorial ("Polar bears and global warming: who's right?" Jim Bell, June 2.)

Nunatsiaq News is also one of six finalists in the running for this year's prestigious Michener Award, for its coverage of the impact of climate change on the Canadian Arctic.

The other Michener nominees are: CBC's Fifth Estate; the Globe and Mail; the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and Kitchener-Waterloo Record; La Presse; and the Prince George Citizen.

Governor General Michaëlle Jean will announce the winner June 8 at a ceremony inside Rideau Hall in Ottawa.