Ontario Newspaper Awards

Spot News Photography (under 25,000 circulation)   Winner: Bob Tymczyszyn, St. Catharines Standard Tymczyszyn shot a captivating, well-composed photo that was the most memorable of the entrants this year. It tells the story of increased hiking injuries in the region

Feature Writing (under 25,000 circulation)   Winner: Scott Dunn, Owen Sound Sun-Times Scott Dunn’s series of three stories looks at the drinking water disaster of Walkerton through multiple, compelling voices, including those of residents who lived through the tragedy and the perspective

General News Feature   Winner: Jon Wells, Hamilton Spectator Wells’ win in this category comes because his thoughtful, well researched and beautifully written submission defines news feature writing. He revisited a spot new story weeks after it took place and

Enterprise Writing   Winner: Katrina Clarke, Hamilton Spectator In this months-long investigative piece, Katrina Clarke exposed systemic sexual violence and harassment at McMaster University that had long been concealed and often ignored by the school’s officials. Clarke began her investigation

COVID-19 Photography   Winner: Bob Tymczyszyn, St. Catharines Standard Bob Tymczyszyn’s single image of two tour boats passing near Niagara Falls manages to perfectly tap into the international conversation about COVID-19, capturing the vast disparity of responses in Canada and

Feature Photography (over 25,000 circulation)   Winner: Derek Ruttan, London Free Press This photo breaks your heart, but also fills it with hope. With Santa’s lap off limits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the photographer captures the magic of Christmas

Feature Writing (over 25,000 circulation)   Winner: Jon Wells, Hamilton Spectator  Jon Wells’ 5,400-word feature on the death of a popular Port Dover fisherman mixes extensive reportage with confident, detail-driven writing that compels the audience to keep reading. The story

Spot News Writing (over 25,000 circulation)   Winner: London Free Press team entry (Derek Ruttan, Randy Richmond, Dale Carruthers, Jonathan Juha, Dan Brown, Mike Hensen and Heather Rivers) Despite numerous challenges the Free Press faced in covering the building collapse

COVID-19 Opinion/Analysis Writing Winner: Grant LaFleche, St. Catharines Standard To read Grant LaFleche’s excellent piece on the politics behind an unproven multimillion-dollar COVID testing proposal is to understand how real-time pandemic analysis is done. LaFleche fact-checked the proposal’s fine-print, finding errors, misrepresentations

Column/Opinion Writing  The quality of the submissions was excellent. Kudos to all of the entrants.    Winner: Joel Rubinoff, Waterloo Region Record Mr. Rubinoff’s columns are rich, vivid narratives that leave few unanswered questions. Each column is an immersive experience.

Beat Reporting (over 25,000 circulation)   Winner: Maria Iqbal, Hamilton Spectator I chose Maria as the top entry for me because of how well her reporting struck a chord. She really captured the human story, the human experience behind her

Video Production   Winner: Dax Melmer, Windsor Star Aerial video was used to great effect in this winning submission to illustrate the impact of flooding and shoreline erosion around Lake Erie. It’s one thing to hear people talk about the