The Thunder Bay Source community newspaper and tbnewswatch.com news website collected four provincial awards.
The Source took home top prize in the best feature news series category, for coverage of last year's flood disaster, at last weekend's Ontario Community Newspaper Association Awards.
OCNA judge Ben Proulx said the flood series showed balance, telling a tough tale without exploiting the situation. "It handles a tragic event tactfully, and conveys the emotion of the community. Very well done on the writing, and there is an effective use of photos," Proulx writes in his remarks explaining his selection. "The simplicity of this entry is really what sets it apart from the others. It's a hugely complex story to put together, and to get it down to such a human level, where emotion is key, is not an easy task."
Meanwhile, tbnewswatch.com nabbed second place in the online category and picked up a pair of third place finishes, one for best community website with a circulation over 10,000.
The site also won bronze for the Surfers Selection award, voted on by member newspapers across the province.
Web manager Scott Paradis said it's always nice to get a pat on the back, especially provincial recognition. "We were up against some heavyweights, so it's nice to see we can hang with the big boys," Paradis said.
Oshawa This Week took top spot for a series on the London 2012 Olympic Games, while the Mississauga News collected bronze.
The flood was just one of those stories that demanded an immediate response, Paradis added.
Hundreds of people were put out of their homes and had no idea where to turn. It was important to not only tell their stories, but help them start to put their shattered lives back together again. "When the flood happened I think everybody knew what they had to do. There was really no awards in the back of our heads at the time. It was just up to us to get the information out there and everybody performed," Paradis said. "Everybody performed and I think these awards are just confirmation that we have a news staff that knows what they're doing."
Reporter Jamie Smith led the coverage in the field on May 28, and spent the better part of two weeks in the city's east end, following up a disaster that caused millions in damage to city homes and the Atlantic Avenue water treatment plant.
He was joined in the field by reporters Jodi Lundmark and Jeff Labine.
Smith said no one wants to have to cover an event like the flood, which saw raw sewage flow into basements in several parts of the city.
But when they strike, the media has a job to do, he said. "It's one of those events that's the reason why you want to get into journalism. For us to get some recognition for it, it's cool to be rewarded for your hard work," Smith said.
He's proud that tbnewswatch has been recognized as one of the top news sites in Ontario, especially given the small size of the website staff.
It's come a long way in four short years. "Obviously the Internet is here to stay within the context of reporting. Just how much it's grown in the community in the few short years we've all been doing this just shows how integral it's become in our community," Smith said.
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