Chronicle tops at QCNA awards

Published on May 27, 2008

Published on February 6, 2010

Chris Quigley

The Western Star

The Chronicle, the Voice of the West Island since 1925, was honoured as Best Overall Newspaper by the Quebec Community Newspapers Association at its annual awards gala last Friday night.

The paper also grabbed second place in the Best Editorial Page category and third place for Best Special Section. The Chronicle's website, www.westislandchronicle.com, took home second place in the Best Website category

The Chronicle's Best Overall award was the paper's 8th such nod in the last 10 years.

Category judge Enn Raudsepp, former Concordia University journalism department chair, wrote The Chronicle's "mix of articles is impressive, starting with good news coverage and an extensive array of reporter-driven features that focus on community affairs and issues. . . All in all, it's a newspaper that goes out of its way to serve the community in an interesting and visually pleasing manner."

Publisher Denis Therrien said the honours showed that even in a year of transition for the staff, The Chronicle can be counted on to bring a superior product to West Islanders. "I think it's pretty clear that even though we were in transition, not only did we not slip in performance, we improved our product. I'm extremely proud of the entire Chronicle editorial, sales and production staff, because this award is a testament to their hard work."

The Chronicle bested The Low Down to Hull and Back News and Gaspe's SPEC in the Best Overall category.

The paper also brought home a number of writing awards.

Former staffer Andy Blatchford won the Best Education Story category for his story about opposition to a Lester B. Pearson School Board pre-kindergarten program, while reporter Raffy Boudjikanian and freelance writer Hollie Watson each grabbed third place in the Best Headline Writing and Best Arts and Entertainment Story categories, respectively.

Freelancer Peter McCabe won the QCNA Photojournalism Award for general photography excellence and took home the Best Sports Photo category and third place in the Best Feature Photo category.

The Chronicle's sister papers The Monitor and the Westmount Examiner also took home prizes.

Monitor editor Toula Foscolos won the Best Column Writing category and took second place in the Best Editorial/Local Affairs category. The Examiner won Best Editorial Page and editor Wayne Larsen took second place in the Best Column Writing category.

For a complete list of winners, visit www.qcna.org.  Marc Lalonde,  News Director