From left: Lily and Sophie Ryan accept the Lindsay Crysler Award for outstanding achievement in the community newspaper industry, from Steve Bonspiel, president of QCNA and publisher of the Eastern Door. Photo: Lily Ryan
Fred Ryan
From left: Lily and Sophie Ryan accept the Lindsay Crysler Award for outstanding achievement in the community newspaper industry, from Steve Bonspiel, president of QCNA and publisher of the Eastern Door. Photo: Lily Ryan
Fred Ryan
The annual Quebec community newspaper awards were announced Friday, June 2, during the gala of the Quebec Community Newspaper Association’s annual convention held in Ste-Adèle, north of Montreal. The convention included the
association’s annual general meeting plus an afternoon of workshops covering
internet security and media business matters. While West Quebec’s newspapers did exceptionally well, the Pontiac Journal and its two associated papers
serving Aylmer and all of West Quebec received significant honours from the cross-Canada judges.
There were two highlights of the awards evening: first, the co-publishers of the Journal, West Quebec Post, and the Bulletin d’Aylmer were given the association’s highest honour, the Lindsay Crsyler Award for Outstanding Achievement in community newspapers. Lily and Sophia Ryan were recognized for their contribution to the community newspapers in Quebec. They received a standing ovation in the resort ballroom.
The second significant event was another positive step for newspapers — and for the future of women within the media. The heart of a newspaper is its local leadership and ability to not only present, but to analyze news affecting its communities, represented by the two awards for Best Editorials (one, on local matters and, second, on national and broad perspectives). Both these prestigious categories were won by young women – Journal editor Allyson Beauregard and the Bulletin d’Aylmer’s editor, Lily Ryan. These awards emphasize the youthful and dynamic face of community newspapers, and signify a positive future for newspapers and for women within this media.
Equally impressive for the Pontiac was the Journal’s third in the Community Promotion category for its very popular Readers’ Choice Awards, managed by Lynne Lavery. The Bulletin d’Aylmer won this category.
Looking at the numbers, of the 107 awards of the evening, West Quebec papers won almost half – approximately 41. The Journal, Post, and Bulletin themselves won 20 top placings including best editorials, best editorial page,
and several writing and advertising awards.
Of the French-language categories, the Pontiac Journal and affiliate Bulletin d’Aylmer swept four of the five nominations.
Best writing awards
Individually, the Journal’s François Carrier and Dominique Bomans took
both Best French-Language Editorial nominations, with Mr Carrier winning the gold. He also won a second in Best French-Language News Story.
The Journal and Bulletin also swept every nomination in the Best Small-Format Ad category, with the Journal also winning a third in the Large Format Ad category.
The Bulletin and West Quebec Post’s Laurent Robillard-Cardinal had nominations for Best Agricultural Story, Best Feature Series, and Best French-language News Story.
The Journal won third for Best Editorial Page in Quebec. The Bulletin won second in Best Website and a third in Best Advertisement (over all), and Best Special section.
“The Journal certainly serves our communities well,” commented manager Lynne Lavery. “Our entire team works hard to provide the best news coverage and advertising promotions for all our readers and businesses in the Pontiac. It’s gratifying to be recognized by our peers for the work we do.”
