No one would ever accuse me of displaying false modesty. Some might say they don’t even see regular modesty!
When you, your business, your organization or your team is recognized for your work it is an exhilarating experience. While some may say they are humbled by the awards, people who know me know better. No one would ever accuse me of displaying false modesty. Some might say they don’t even see regular modesty! But while pride goeth before the fall, I’d rather be proud of the work we do here.
My thoughts on pride are triggered by the fact that the Nation won no less than 16 awards – including five first-place finishes – at the Quebec Community Newspapers Association awards gala this year. We are especially delighted that the paper was named as the QCNA’s third best overall community newspaper.
It shows the dedication, professionalism and great work on the part of everyone here in delivering the best to our readers. Judge Heather Wright called our magazine “simply beautiful, and the storytelling is top notch. I read the whole thing, not because I had to but because I wanted to!”
The Nation took home a first-place prize for best special section. Our 25th anniversary section last November showcased some of the biggest stories we published over the past quarter-century. The category judge said it contained “great reading, great layout…”
We cleaned up in the Best Arts & Entertainment Story category. André Simoneau and Joshua Grant brought home first and second place prizes respectively.
Copy editor and occasional writer Martin Siberok also took top honours in Best Feature Story for a profile of Maïtée Labrecque-Saganash, who happens to be our newest columnist. For good measure, Maïtée then won the category for Best Column Writing.
That was followed by Amy German winning the category for Best Business Story.
Rounding out our prizes were several runners-up. Best Education Story saw Patrick Quinn taking second place followed by Darya Marchenkova in third.
Our hard-working production coordinator Dan Isaac took third for Best Community Health Story. In-house designer Jinheng Taing took home a third-place prize for his “professional and great branding message” in Best Advertising Creation (Small Format).
Patrick Quinn place second for Best Sports Story. Even our ads were getting into the act with a third-place win for Best Ad. Third place in Best Photo Essay was shared by Katie Webb and Matt Dessner. Even I squeaked by with third-place honours for the Bob Phillips Award for Best Editorial (general).
Pride in the achievements by the Nation staff is something we all feel here at the office. There is doing a job and then there is doing a job to the best of your abilities, and that is what we do every two weeks for our readers. I thank everyone, our staff and our readers, for making this possible year after year.