The Reminder will be receiving some more silverware this year.
Flin Flon’s community newspaper won an award and earned podium finishes in six different categories in this year’s Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association (SWNA) Better Newspapers Competition. Results of the competition were announced by the group May 13.
The paper itself was nominated in one category. Reporter Eric Westhaver’s work was nominated in five different categories, covering tourism, government and education coverage, as well as feature writing and photography.
Westhaver earned top spot in the Best Feature Story category for “Behind Flin Flon’s queen of drag”, a story about Flin Flon drag queen Miss Bijoux and performer Alain Lachapelle that was printed in the paper’s June 30, 2021 issue. The story featured photography from both Westhaver and from photographer Noelle Drimmie.
Westhaver finished second in three categories - Best Black and White Photo, Best Government Coverage and Best Tourism Story.
The reporter finished second in the Best Black and White Photo category for a photo in the August 4, 2021 edition of the revealing of a Star Attraction sign for the Flin Flon Station Museum – the photo shows a black sheet being removed from the sign with help from a child on an adult’s shoulders.
In the Best Government Coverage category, The Reminder placed second for “Thompson-based jab plan rolled out,” a story in the March 3 issue detailing the province’s “Vaxport” plan – a mostly-scuppered plan by the Manitoba government to vaccinate northerners against COVID-19 through flying groups of people to Thompson - and how some northern leaders advocated for vaccines to be brought to northern communities instead.
A story about “Postcard from a Quarantined Miner”, a song and music video by Winnipeg-based music group Bluebloods that uses imagery of Flin Flon and its history, finished second in the Best Tourism Story category.
The Reminder also placed third in a pair of categories. The Reminder itself was nominated for Best Editorial Page for its circulation class, finishing third, with a final award in the Best Education Coverage – K-12 category. That honour came for “School opens new sensory room with community support,” an article in the Dec. 22, 2021 issue of The Reminder about the creation of a sensory room at Ruth Betts Community School and a substantial donation to the program by Pat and Dennis Hyndman.
As a newspaper located in a border community between Manitoba and Saskatchewan, The Reminder is a member of both SWNA and the Manitoba Community Newspaper Association (MCNA). In most years, the MCNA also holds its own newspaper awards - no details about the group’s latest awards have yet been released.
The Reminder also received six nominations in the 2020 SWNA Better Newspaper Competition Awards, as well as eight in the 2019 awards. The paper and its staff won twice both years.
The Reminder thanks SWNA and the competition’s judges for their consideration, congratulates other SWNA members and award winners for their work and, as always, thanks its readers and community for their continued support.
