Praised for its bold, attention-grabbing photography, easy-to-follow layout, strong editorials and great features, the Vancouver Courier took first place in the Newspaper Excellence category at the B.C. Yukon Community Newspaper Awards this past weekend.
Photographer Dan Toulgoet was also awarded gold in the Colour Feature Photo category. Judges praised his photo of children jumping over open flames during Persian New Year celebrations for its “great timing, great composition, great light.”
Gold was also on the menu for the team of Manon Paradis, Tara Lalanne, Marina Rockey and Tori Clark, who won for Ad Design, Collaborative.
Not to be outdone, Geoff Olson received second place honours in the Cartoonist category. Columnist Jessica Barrett took third place in the columnist category. Former editor Barry Link received bronze for Online Innovation for his holiday podcast “A Christmas Story.”
And photographer Rebecca Blissett took home silver in the Portrait/Personality Photo category for her “tender” shot of a tattooed man and his pet bird, which was part of reporter Sandra Thomas’s feature series on residents of the Downtown Eastside and their pets.
Last month, Thomas won bronze at the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards for the series. At the national awards, the Courier also earned second place for Best Website and Best Multimedia Feature for Courier editor Michael Kissinger’s story and video “Humour as a weapon against the Holocaust.” Lisa Smedman’s feature on Hungarian refugees “In from the cold,” won gold for Best History Story.
