KENTVILLE, N.S. - The SaltWire Network’s local Nova Scotia media outlets spanning from Windsor to Yarmouth are well represented in Newspapers Atlantic’s list of 2018 Better Newspapers Competition nominees.
Editorial teams with the Tri-County Vanguard, Annapolis Valley Register and Valley Journal-Advertiser collected a combined total of 24 nominations. The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony taking place at the University of King’s College in Halifax June 1.
The Valley Journal-Advertiser swept the nominations in the sports story category, with Windsor-based reporter Colin Chisholm receiving a nomination for his story on Kennetcook boxer Wyatt Sanford, who hopes to go to the Olympics someday and managing editor Jennifer Vardy Little, based in Kentville, receiving a nomination for her story on Port Williams skier Shane Sommer. Freelancer Matt Little was nominated for his article on Newport native Makail Parker’s season as captain of the Valley Wildcats.
Vardy Little is also nominated for Outstanding News Story for a feature about a Liverpool woman turning to the public for assistance finding a Kings County man who helped save her after a car crash.
Read the articles here:
• Kennetcook boxer has one goal in mind – the Olympics
• A need for speed: Port Williams skier heading to U14 Can Am Championships
• Living the Dream: Newport native closer to home with Valley junior A Wildcats
• Liverpool woman looking for her angel
Chisholm collected the most individual nominations in the competition, earning five nods in total. In addition to the sports story contest, Chisholm is a standing finalist for the outstanding news photo, resources story, feature story and editorial awards.
• Tank would send the wrong signal for Windsor
• Family still reeling after sinkhole incident in Falmouth, homeowner says
• After career filled with carnage with Halifax police, retired officer enjoying life at home
• Burlington fisherman, scientists, Mi’kmaq conservationists collaborating on Avon River study
Tri-County Vanguard journalist Tina Comeau is a standing finalist in four categories: Outstanding Feature Photo, Outstanding News Photo, Outstanding Investigative Story and Outstanding Resources Story. The resources story was a personal reflection on the family side of the lobster industry and what, if anything, had changed from her experience the previous year.
• Am I ready? Another lobster season begins
Comeau's investigative story nomination is a series of stories exploring the issue of whether cancer radiation services should be located in southwestern Nova Scotia and also explored concerns over oral cancer medications and the cost to patients. Here are a sampling of those stories:
• Push continues for Nova Scotia to cover cancer medications taken at home
• Could radiation services come to Yarmouth Regional Hospital? Simple answer: it's complicated
Tri-County colleagues Eric Bourque and Carla Allen are nominated for Outstanding Sports Photo and Outstanding News Story, respectively. Allen's news story nomination is for a series of articles she wrote about Baby Millie, a baby – and her parents – who have inspired many in the face of medical complications that have necessitated several open heart surgeries for this little girl. Millie is a Heart Warrior and is not only loved by those who know her, but by everyone.
• Yarmouth's Baby Millie celebrates a year of life
Annapolis Valley Register reporter Ashley Thompson is a finalist in the Outstanding Feature Story category for a piece revisiting the mysterious disappearance of Lyndon Fuller, a 22-year-old man who seemingly vanished after jumping out of a third-storey window of the Berwick hospital in November 1988. Thompson is also nominated in the feature photo contest.
• ‘Bizarre’ Berwick cold case: Lyndon Fuller’s family still searching 29 years later
Former Tri-County Vanguard reporter Sara Ericsson, now a part of the Kings County News team in Kentville, is in the running for the Outstanding Feature Photo award and Valley Journal-Advertiser journalist Carole Morris–Underhill received an Outstanding Sports Photo nomination.
Staff at the Valley Journal-Advertiser and Annapolis Valley Register are up for a number of group awards, including Outstanding Page Design, Outstanding Special Section and General Excellence.
The Tri-County Vanguard’s team is nominated for Outstanding Special Section for its annual Lobster Fishing Outlook, which this year was a 28-page publication exploring all aspects of the commercial lobster fishery. The Tri-County Vanguard also submitted work that has been nominated in the Outstanding Online Innovation category. This is a project that was undertaken by the staff of the Nova Scotia weeklies papers in western Nova Scotia that are part of Saltwire Network to create a summer bucket list for readers. It includes photos, descriptions and interactive maps.
• What's on your summer bucket list?
The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony taking place at the University of King’s College in Halifax June 1.
