The Olds Albertan and Sundre Round Up picked up several awards during the weekend's Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association (AWNA) 92nd General Meeting and Annual Convention.
Member newspapers from across the province vied for placings in the annual Awards of Excellence competition, which was announced over the weekend.
Mountain View Gazette editor John Gleeson won second place for Best Local Editorial with “Five bucks will buy you some democracy,” which was published in the November 22, 2011 edition of the Olds Albertan.
The editorial was written in the lead-up to the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills PC Party constituency choosing its candidate for the impending provincial election.
For a $5 PC Party membership, constituents could vote for the person whom they thought would do the best job, even if they didn't vote PC in the upcoming election, Gleeson wrote.
“We really liked this editorial and enjoyed its different layers...and focuses on how one can make a difference when so many of us think our voice doesn't matter. (The editorial) offers the reader a chance to exercise that right - even if it'll cost you five bucks to do it,” the judges commented.
The Albertan also took third place for Best Front Page in its circulation class.
Sundre Round Up editor Dan Singleton won a first-place University of Alberta Writing Award with the story “Former Sundre student makes medical history,” which was published in the June 21, 2011 edition of the Sundre Round Up.
The story featured Dr. Jenny Souster, a former Sundre student who became the first woman to ever graduate as a neurosurgeon from the University of Alberta in its 50-year history of training neurosurgeons.
“This story about a local medical school graduate illustrates the milestones that can be reached by pursuing post-secondary education, and what is possible by attending the University of Alberta,” the judges commented.
Also during the AWNA's general meeting and annual convention, Mountain View Publishing's group publisher Murray Elliott was inducted as the association's president, having just finished serving as vice-president.
Elliott is the publisher of the Olds Albertan, Didsbury Review, and the Carstairs Courier.
