Courier among Atlantic best

The Digby Courier has been recognized as among the best weekly newspapers in Atlantic Canada.

At the May 26 Atlantic Community Newspaper Association’s Better Newspapers Competition awards night in Charlottetown, the Courier took second place in its class for general excellence (circulation up to 3,000).

As well, a photograph by former reporter Chris Windeyer placed third in Best Feature Photo and sales representative Nicole Hanscomb was third for Best Use of Art Service in her ‘Christmas in Digby’ promotion.

To pad out the Courier resume, former reporter Heather Killen, now with the Annapolis Spectator in Middleton, placed third with her sports feature on Bridgetown track coach Charlie Scarrow.

The General Excellence class was won by the Happy Valley-Goose Bay Labradorian, with 88.5 points in 11 categories that looked at areas such as community news, front page, editorial, photography, local features, sports and advertising.

The Courier was the only paper in its class to score a perfect 15 in community news, and finished with 87 points in second place. It also scored maximum points in local features.

The Windeyer photo of Weymouth area drum maker Patrick Jarvis ran in the March 2 issue last year and impressed the judge who noted:

“This picture sucked me in right away. My eye was caught by the long strands of rope and I thought: ‘What is he doing?’ And of course I read on to fond out what it was. I like the look of contentment on Mr. Jarvis’ face and just a touch of disarray to his hair that maybe shows how strenuous the work is. ‘Oh, my aching arms’ is the feeling I come away with.”

Earlier this year, The Courier and reporter Jonathan Riley were winners in the 2007 Better Newspapers Competition organized by the Canadian Community Newspaper Association.

In the general excellence class, The Courier was named third best all round newspaper in Canada among those with a circulation of 2,000 to 2,999, and Riley’s photograph of a motorcycle wreathed in smoke earned second place for feature photos among papers up to 3,999 circulation.

The winning photo was taken during an event at the Wharf Rat Rally last September, where competitors burned the rubber off the rear wheels of their motorcycles.

There were 3,308 total entries in the various categories in the competition from 330 newspapers.

Awards were presented at the CCNA's national convention May 11 in Winnipeg.