Fresh off being named Canada’s top newspaper in its class, The Reminder has seven provincial awards to add to the mantel.
As we first reported in print yesterday, the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association (MCNA) has named The Reminder the Best in Class out of all provincial newspapers with a circulation under 1,500.
“I’m so pleased to see the talented, dedicated people on The Reminder staff recognized for their work,” said Reminder publisher Valerie Durnin, who accepted the award in Winnipeg on Saturday, May 2.
In judging for Best in Class, The Reminder finished with 740 out of a possible 1,000 points – 22.5 points ahead of the second-place Erickson South Mountain Press.
The Reminder also finished third in voting for Best All Round Newspaper among community newspapers in all circulation classes (though there’s no award for that).
The Reminder earned six other honours at the 96th Annual MCNA Convention and Better Newspapers Competition Awards.
One of Reminder editor Jonathon Naylor’s Local Angle columns was named Best Editorial among all circulation classes.
The August 15, 2014 column, entitled “NDP Republicans,” was critical of the provincial government.
“Jonathon’s Best Editorial win was especially exciting,” said Durnin. “Up against all the papers in the province, in all circulation classes, he took top honours for ‘NDP Republicans,’ in which his sharp pen holds the provincial government to task for its fundraising model for the new ER, and also for its lack of transparency with regard to funding allocations for the Mining Exploration Assistance Program (MEAP). A good editorial should provoke and stimulate thought. Jonathon’s insightful, courageous writing does so week after week.”
In voting for Best Feature Photo among all classes, a Reminder photo placed third.
The photo, snapped by Jonathon Naylor and published June 16, 2014, depicts Maddie Willems, 2, playing on the jungle gym at Kin Park.
The Reminder placed third for Best Christmas Edition across all classes. Our 2014 Christmas edition was praised for sharing holiday stories from area children and youth.
In the Best In-House Ad category across all classes, The Reminder placed third for its “We’re wild about our readers” campaign.
Designed by sales representative Krista Lemcke, the ads employed a wildlife theme to communicate with readers in a playful, eye-catching way.
“I was thrilled to see Krista Lemcke’s award for her in-house ad campaign promoting various Reminder services,” said Durnin. “With clever headlines and images of authentically northern animals, it is a great example of homegrown advertising creativity.”
In its circulation class, The Reminder also placed second for Best Layout and Design and Best Editorial Page.
The awards come on the heels of The Reminder being named this year’s top Canadian newspaper in its circulation class by Newspapers Canada.
Despite producing three times as many editions as most of its competitors, The Reminder still came out on top when the national judging concluded.
Since hitting the stands in 1946, The Reminder has published well over 17,000 editions.
Seven honours
The Reminder won seven awards in all from the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association:
• Best In Class (circulation under 1,500*)
• First Place, Best Editorial (all circulation classes)
• Third place, Best Feature Photo (all circulation classes)
• Third place, Best Christmas Edition (all circulation classes)
• Third place, Best In-House Ad (all circulation classes)
• Second place, Best Layout and Design (circulation under 1,500)
• Second place, Best Editorial Page (circulation under 1,500)
* refers to per-issue circulation, not weekly circulation
Winning opinion
The following Local Angle editorial, written by Jonathon Naylor and entitled “NDP Republicans,” earned The Reminder one of seven awards from the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association:
If I told you that some far-right Republican state government in America was denying full funding to an urgent health care project, you probably wouldn’t be surprised.
If I told you that this same Republican administration refused to reveal how much taxpayer money it had just handed over to big business,
you might shrug your shoulders.
But if I told you that this government is actually of the Canadian, social-democratic and Flin Flon-supported variety, you might say I’m full of beans.
Well, I’m not. Manitoba’s NDP government, for reasons only it fully understands, is guilty as charged.
As has been reported extensively, the NDP has pledged a new, modern hospital ER for Flin Flon – but with a costly string attached.
Northern Manitobans must – somehow, someway – fundraise as much as $4.4 million, if not more, for this massive project.
The NDP argues that the fundraising prerequisite is emblematic of a provincial-community partnership and allows area residents to “have a say and be involved” with the new ER.
It’s alarming that the NDP apparently believes people only deserve a
say if they fork over personal cash in addition to their tax dollars. Is this democracy to the highest bidder?
And if private sector funding requirements are such wonderful, funderful things, why apply them only to Canada’s supposedly public health care system?
Why not hold bake sales for the revamped highway to Bakers Narrows? Or set up lemonade stands to buy new RCMP cruisers? Perhaps a penny drive for the water treatment plant?
Indeed let no government project pass by without teaching us all the valuable lesson of sharing!
Won’t disclose
Almost as offensive as that notion is the NDP’s newfound refusal to disclose how it disperses taxpayer dollars to private mineral exploration companies.
For years the province has operated the Mineral Exploration Assistance Program (MEAP), which partially covers expenses for prospecting outfits searching for viable ore in (mostly northern) Manitoba.
Journalists never had a problem finding out how much cash from the public purse was flowing to each company – until this year, that is.
In a surprise move, the NDP has done away with MEAP transparency. While taxpayers know that MEAP is doling out $3 million to 22 companies in 2014-15, they aren’t allowed to see how that sizable chunk of change is being divvied up.
Defending the insulting new policy, a provincial spokesperson said a MEAP dollar breakdown would divulge “sensitive information” that a benefitting company’s competitor could use to their advantage.
But what about giving taxpayers the advantage of knowing how their money is being spent? For the NDP, that is secondary to the hypothetical fears of for-profit companies who get to have their taxpayer-funded cake and eat it, too.
When Flin Flonners helped re-elect the NDP in 2011, they believed they were getting a government committed to the principles of public health care and that understood dollars don’t grow on trees in the North.
They were convinced the NDP would be transparent, that even if they disagreed with why tax revenue was being spent, at the very least they would always know how it was being spent.
Silly them.
