Picton Gazette a finalist in best Editorial; Feature/News Series and Sports Photography categories

Prince Edward County’s 194-year-old “newspaper of record” was named a finalist in three Premier categories and received honourable mentions in two others in provincial competition.

The Ontario Community Newspaper Association (OCNA) announced the top three finalists in every category of the 2023 Better Newspapers Competition last week. The medals will be announced in March.

The Picton Gazette was cited for best Editorial, for “Post Media: When No News is Good News,” by Karen Valihora; best Feature/News Series for its ongoing coverage of Picton Terminals; and best Sports Photo for a memorable girls’ rugby action shot by editor Jason Parks.

“As new publishers, we are extremely pleased we can now always bill the paper as “award-winning,” said Karen Valihora, laughing. “No, multiple-award-winning.”

“But seriously, this is great for Prince Edward County. It shows our readers they can trust the community paper, and that the work we are doing is among the best in the province.”

The newspaper received an Honourable Mention for best Front Page, for the launch of the redesigned edition by Jed Tallo. The page features a photograph of blue herons soaring in a gold sky by local photographer Phil Norton. It received another Honourable Mention in Arts and Entertainment coverage, for reporting on the County’s Chamber Music Festival in “Heavenly Harmonies,” by Chris Fanning.

OCNA received over 1,000 entries for the awards across multiple categories. The Picton Gazette earned its citations in the community weekly with circulation above 10,000 category.

“Next, we go national!” said a beaming Jason Parks. “I can’t tell you how good it feels to be part of a team working so hard. These awards are for just the first six months these guys have owned the paper.”

All of the cited pieces can be found in a Special Collection concerning the awards.