'Citizen' shortlisted for three provincial newspaper awards

Last Friday, the Ontario Community Newspapers Association (OCNA) announced the shortlist for its annual Better Newspapers Competition and The Citizen is recognized in three categories, including general excellence in its circulation class.

 

Being shortlisted for an award means that The Citizen has placed in the top three in that particular class. The rankings of those shortlisted - whether they have placed first, second or third - will be announced on Friday, April 11 at the OCNA’s Better Newspapers Competition and Hall of Fame Awards dinner at the Queen’s Landing Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

 

The Citizen is shortlisted for general excellence in the class for newspapers with a circulation between 1,500 and 8,000 alongside The Eganville Leader and The New Liskeard Temiskaming Speaker. The Haldimand Press received an honorable mention in that class.

 

Reporter Scott Stephenson is nominated for Best Business and Finance Story for his feature on St. Brigid’s Creamery near Brussels for last year’s Farms to Tables section. He is joined by stories by Rob Perry for The Aylmer Express and Ken Kellar for The Fort Frances Times.

 

The third award comes in the Community Service class for North Huron Publishing’s Citizen of the Year Awards. The Lake Report from Niagara-on-the-Lake and The Independent serving Petrolia and Central Lambton join The Citizen in this class.

 

Last year, The Citizen earned two second-place and two third-place finishes in the provincial awards.

 

In the General Excellence category for its circulation class, The Citizen placed second, finishing ahead of The Haliburton County Echo in third place, but behind The Listowel Banner in first place.

 

Editor Shawn Loughlin claimed second place in the Best Business or Finance Story category with his profile on Jeff Linton and Linton Pasture Pork. Loughlin was bested by a story in The Aylmer Express, but beat a story from The Fort Frances Times.
In the Best Rural Story category, Loughlin’s story on the provincial government’s doomed farm property severance policy proposal with local expert Wayne Caldwell placed third behind Niagara-on-the-Lake’s The Lake Report in second and The Haldimand Press in first.

 

Karen Webster placed third in the Heritage category for her bi-weekly column on local history, finishing behind The Eganville Leader in second place and The Listowel Banner in first.

 

This is the seventh time in the last 10 years that The Citizen has won a provincial newspaper award, in addition to Stops Along The Way being honoured with a 2021 award, a silver medal in the Best Vertical Product category.

 

The Citizen’s website received an honourable mention at the 2021 awards in addition to the Stops Along The Way win.
In 2020, The Citizen placed second in the Best Special Section (circulation under 9,999) for its special section on the annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association.

 

At the 2019 awards, The Citizen placed third in the General Excellence category for its circulation class and Loughlin won a bronze medal in the Best Sports Photograph of the Year category.

 

In 2018, The Citizen placed first in the Best Rural Story category for newspapers with a circulation of 9,999 or under for a story on rural homelessness written by Rural Voice Editor Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot, while in 2017, the newspaper won first place in the Best Community Website category for a newspaper with a circulation under 9,999.

 

In 2015, The Citizen placed third in General Excellence for its circulation class, as well as in the Best Community Website category for its circulation class.

 

In 2019, The Citizen won a News Media Canada national newspaper award in the Best Rural Story category, which followed several years of honours at the national level. 

 

The Citizen received second-place finishes in the Best Overall Newspaper, Best Front Page and Best Editorial Page categories for its circulation class at the 2014 awards before winning gold in all three categories the following year, being named the best newspaper in Canada, the best front page and the best editorial page in its circulation class that year.