The Courier took third place for general excellence in its class, and editor John DeMings also won third prize for a sports feature titled ‘Diamond sounds of summer’, which looked at a weekly softball game for those 50 and over.

The judge’s comments noted that the Courier featured some of the best photography in its class.

“The Courier begins with an attractive, interesting front page and continues with pages filled with news stories, features and photographs. The Courier is strong in every category on which entries were judged, with the result that its readers are provided with an engaging, entertaining and informative read,” noted the comments.

Comments on the entry in the ‘Best sports story or feature’ category noted that DeMings “has a lovely way with words and their sound, from the twock of the aluminum bat striking the softball to the description of the 70-somethings battling on the baseball diamond in their weekly 50-and-over summer slo-pitch league.

“The story makes you feel like you are with them on the field and gives us all reason to hope that if these guys can keep playing their favourite sport into their 70s, that there is indeed hope for us all.”