Squamish's community newspaper this week raked in a total of six national awards for excellence in print and online reporting and photography.
The Chief's Rebecca Aldous earned four of the six honours handed out to the newspaper's staff by judges from the Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA) in its annual awards announced on Wednesday (March 27). Reporter/photographer Ben Lypka earned a first-place photography award.
Aldous' feature story Fighting Lyme, which appeared in the May 24, 2012 edition of the newspaper, received first place in the Best Feature Story (circulation up to 3,999) category. It told the story of local resident Suzy Carter and her struggle to receive a proper diagnosis and treatment for the disease.
Aldous also earned third place in the Best Feature Series (circ. up to 3,999) for a series of articles on Squamish's crumbling infrastructure, and third in the Best Historical Story category for a historical feature about the Royal Hudson steam locomotive.
Lypka's photo that appeared on Page 1 of the May 31, 2012, edition of The Chief was honoured as the Best Sports Photo (circ. up to 3,999). The photo, titled Wipeout, captured a crash involving participants in the Britannia Classic longboarding competition
As well, Aldous's front-page photo of a local family that lost its mobile home in a fire earned second place in the Best News Feature Photo (circ. up to 3,999) category.
The Chief's website, www.squamishchief.com, was honoured as the best in Canada in its circulation category.
We're awesome, Chief publisher Laila Michell said of the awards. It's a team effort and the awards reflect the talent and drive of our entire staff to provide Squamish-area readers with top-notch coverage every week.
