For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been spending time scouring back issues of the Listowel Banner, Walkerton Herald-Times and Wingham Advance Times in preparation for the Ontario Community Newspapers Association’s (OCNA) Better Newspaper Competition.
Each year, we are asked to submit articles and photos that resonated in the community in several categories including best news story, best feature series, best feature photo, and many more.
In past years, this was a tedious task. This year was no exception.
However, it was enjoyable turning back through the pages of this publication over the past 12 months (October 2020 to September 2021).
The first few months were full of COVID-19 news (remember when we were all naïve and thought this pandemic would just be a few weeks?), which was a bit of a downer. However, once we got into January 2021 and news of a vaccine arriving in the coming weeks, things turned around.
Despite all of this COVID news, our communities began to climb out of the darkness and back into the light.
Vaccines began to arrive in the region, with residents heading to the clinics as soon as they could to do their part in beating the coronavirus.
Community events, although not back to their pre-COVID formats, began to return. Minor sports started back up in altered forms over the summer, giving our kids – and parents – a much-needed mental break.
Stores began to reopen to the public – how and when they were allowed to open is questionable, but we’ll leave that argument for another day – and people began to go back to work. As of this writing, our region’s unemployment level is back at its pre-COVID numbers, which just happen to be the lowest in the province.
And our editorial team rose to the occasion in producing high quality, local and impactful journalism.
In Walkerton, Pauline Kerr has produced countless pieces over the past 12 months detailing the operations of municipal and county council, board of health and the hospital board.
She has been on top of the developments with the Walkerton BIA and the Saugeen Municipal Airport, producing stories not found anywhere else. Pauline is a machine, and we’re fortunate to have her on our team.
In the past year, we expanded our council coverage to include South Bruce – a border town whose decisions will impact the region for years.
We also have, I believe, the most in-depth coverage of the deep geological repository issue in South Bruce – an issue that impacts our entire region.
In Wingham, Cory Bilyea and Kelsey Bent penned numerous top-notch stories this year that appeared in our pages.
Cory has been a driving force in our Indigenous coverage, which unfortunately is in the news for all the wrong reasons with the discovery of unidentified bodies buried at former residential schools across the country. However, Cory suggested we use this as a teaching moment and pitched that we publish stories to educate readers on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action.
We also expanded our council coverage to include the surrounding communities of South Bruce, Morris-Turnberry, Howick and Huron-Kinloss – all underserved markets that deserve quality coverage.
In Listowel, Colin Burrowes produced two series that received many positive reviews from readers: his four-part series on homelessness in North Perth and the four-part Pride Month series. Colin also tackled the Perth County inclusivity and anti-racism charter story when no other media outlet would. From North Perth Mayor Todd Kasenberg’s initial motion receiving the silent treatment from Perth County council to the county fast tracking and eventually adopting a charter six months later, Colin was there every step of the way and covered it like no other media outlet.
Dan McNee once again showed why he is a photo master, capturing great moments in sports, on local playgrounds, at community events and local disasters, such as the fire at The Village in April. And Dan can write, too. He authored many fine pieces that will certainly get some notice at this year’s awards.
We have also published some great human interest pieces – some sad, some happy – that have received praise from our readers.
Going through the last 12 months of our papers was a welcome reminder that local newspapers are powerful and impactful when done right. I like to think that we’ve done it right this year.
As I submit our entries into the OCNA Better Newspaper Competition, I do so with confidence this year. Confidence because we have produced quality, local content.
With that said, we don’t produce this newspaper with the sole purpose of winning awards; we produce this newspaper because we want to chronicle the residents and people that have shaped our community into what it has become (and what it is going to be), and to make an impact in the community by driving change and bringing attention to issues.
And because of advertisers and readers like you, we can do that 52 weeks a year.
Thank you for reading this week’s issue. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do in bringing it to you every Thursday.
***
Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers. Story ideas, news tips and feedback can be sent to mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
