The Canadian Online Publishing Awards were handed out last night (Nov. 14) in Toronto, recognizing outstanding contribution to online publishing.
In the Media category, RDS was the big winner claiming eight awards including Gold for Best Publication, Best Podcast, Best Blog Column, Best Sports Feature, Best Video Content, and Best Use of Social Media.
Independent, Victoria-based environmental-focused news site The Narwhal, which launched just six months ago, earned four awards, winning both Gold and Silver for Best Photojournalism and Silver for Best Publication.
Emma Gilchrist, The Narwhal editor-in-chief and co-founder, told Broadcast Dialogue the recognition is a morale boost for the startup’s small staff.
“We certainly didn’t expect this. We were up against such big players,” said Gilchrist, one of the publication’s three full-time staff members. “We were really pleased just to be finalists. To actually win four of them was beyond our wildest dreams.”
The Narwhal features indepth, investigative journalism on the environment – a beat Gilchrist said is being covered by fewer and fewer mainstream reporters. About one third of the publication’s revenue originates from crowd funding with its staff of freelancers and contractors working remotely. Gilchrist said that low overhead model has allowed it to step in to fill a void.
“I think there’s a tonne of potential. Canadians are definitely craving a different type of news, and if you provide a service to them they are willing to pay for it. Working as an online startup, it’s an uphill battle to get recognition…it’s also a really nice boost for our reporters and photographers who have worked really hard the last six months to create some groundbreaking indepth journalism.”
In addition to the Media category (see the full list of winners below), awards were also handed out in Academic, Business and Consumer categories with HuffPost Canada and HuffPost Quebec earning a total of five nods across all four. Find the full list of winners and finalists here.
Best Publication:
Gold: RDS (Bell Media)
Jocelyne Morissette, Directeur, produits numériques
Daniel Dumoulin, Chef médias numériques
Stéphane Leduc, Chef de produits médias numériques
Marc-Andre Nobert, Superviseur média interactif
Patrick Roy, Rédacteur en chef web
Luc Dansereau, Coordonateur vidéos, Médias numériques
Robert Latendresse, Producteur de contenu
Nicolas Landry, Producteur de contenu
Sébastian Gomez, Gest. Princ., Projets Plateforme WCM
Stéphane Sauriol-Francovic, Directeur, développement numérique
Silver: The Narwhal (The Narwhal News Society)
Emma Gilchrist, Co-founder
Carol Linnitt, Co-founder
Jimmy Thomson, Deputy Editor
Best Blog Column/Video:
Gold: RDS (Bell Média)
Daniel Lequin, Writer
Daniel Dumoulin, Chef médias numériques
Jennifer Ditchburn, Editor-in-Chief
Best News Coverage:
Gold: CTV News Calgary (Bell Media) – CTV Civic Election 2017
Silver: RDS.ca (Bell Média) – Tom Dundon gardera les Hurricanes en Caroline
François Gagnon, Éditiorialiste
Patrick Roy, Rédacteur en chef
Daniel Dansereau, Chef médias numériques
Best Continuing Coverage of a News Story:
Gold: HuffPost Canada (Oath Canada) – Federal Hiring Process Filled with Sexual Innuendos For Job Candidate
Catherine Lévesque, Reporter
Althia Raj, Editor
Andree Lau, Editor
Silver: The Hockey News (Roustan Media Ltd.) – THN In Humboldt: Healing Will Take A Long Time. ‘It Will be Tough. They’re Never Going To Get Over This.’
Ken Campbell, Senior Writer
Sam McCaig, Features Editor
Matt Larkin, Associate Senior Writer
Ryan Kennedy, Associate Senior Writer
Edward Fraser, Managing Editor
Best Investigate Article or Series:
Gold: OpenCanada.org (The Centre for International Governance Innovation) – Canada’s missing Syrians
Gareth Chantler, Journalist
Eva Salinas, Managing Editor
Catherine Tsalikis, Senior Editor
Maya Hautefeuille, Photographer
Silver: HuffPost Québec (Oath Canada) – Quand L’Agriculture Tue
Nicolas Mesly, Reporter
Hugo Jolion-David, Video Journalist
Christian Duperron, Editor
Patrick White, Editor
Best Interactive/Infographic Story:
Phil Hahn, Web producer
Omar Sachedina, Correspondent
Allya Davidson, Field Producer
Kirk Neff, Director of Photography
Silver: Taproot Edmonton (Taproot Publishing Inc.) – #yegvote
Mack Male, Project Lead / Developer
Karen Unland, Editor
Anna McMillan, Researcher
Best Photojournalism:
Gold: The Narwhal (The Narwhal News Society) – In Photos: The Canadian Mining Boom You’ve Never Seen Before
Garth Lenz, Photojournalist
Emma Gilchrist, Editor, researcher
Carol Linnitt, Editor, researcher, graphic design
Silver: The Narwhal (The Narwhal News Society) – This is Giant Mine
Matt Jacques, Photographer
Jimmy Thomson, Journalist, field producer
Emma Gilchrist, Editor
Carol Linnitt, Editor
Best Video Content:
Gold: RDS (Bell Média) – Le Globe-footeur
Adrien Meure, Gestionnaire de communauté
David Rioux, Éditeur vidéo
Luc Dansereau, Coordonateur vidéos, Médias numériques
Daniel Dumoulin, Chef médias numériques
Silver: Journal de Montréal (QUÉBECOR) – [VIDÉO] Une semaine dans la peau d’une préposée aux bénéficiaires
Marie-Christine Noël, Journaliste
Manu Chataigner, Caméraman
Frédéric Poirier, Monteur vidéo
Hugo Meunier, Directeur du contenu, QUÉBECOR
Jean-Louis Fortin, Adjoint au directeur de l’information et Chef du Bureau d’enquête
Best Podcast:
Gold: RDS (Bell Média)
Luc Dansereau, Producteur médias numériques
Daniel Dumoulin, Chef médias numériques
Martin Lemay, Animateur
Silver: Policy Options (Institute for Research on Public Policy)
Madi Haslam, Host, Policy Options podcast
Jennifer Ditchburn, Editor-in-Chief
Best Sports Feature:
RDS.ca (Bell Média) – Coupe du Monde
Hafid Ouazib, Développeur web
Martin Larocque, Développeur web
Gabriel Fontaine, Développeur web
Danny Hebert, Développeur web
Daniel Dumoulin, Chef médias numériques
Stéphane Leduc, Chef de produit médias numériques
Marc-André Nobert, Stratège médias numériques
Patrick Roy, Rédacteur-Chef
Luc Dansereau, Coordonateur vidéo
Mehdi Benguerrah, Spécialiste, technologie
RDS.ca (Bell Média) – Section speciale sur le repechage 2018 de la LNH – NHL
François Gagnon, Reporter
Daniel Dumoulin, Chef médias numériques
Eric Leblanc, Producteur de contenu
Nicolas Landry, Producteur de contenu
Robert Latendresse, Producteur de contenu
Mikael Filion, Producteur de contenu
Marc-André Nobert, Superviseur médias intéractifs
Maxime Desroches, Rédacteur et édimestre
Jérémie Asselin, Assistant à la production
Stéphane Leduc, Chef de produits médias numériques
Best Use of Social Media:
Gold: RDS (Bell Média)
Élise Robillard, Stratège Médias Numériques
Daniel Dumoulin, Chef médias numériques
Luc Dansereau, Coordonateur vidéos, Médias numériques
Martin Lemay, Animateur
Bruno Gervais, Analyste
Stéphane Leroux, Reporter
Francis Jetté, Gestionnaire de commnauté
Catherine Savoie, coordonatrice de contenu numérique
Silver: UBC School of Journalism
Said Abugattas Abusada, Student
Ely Bahhadi, Student
Sarah Reid, Student
Alexandra Rodriguez, Student
Saranaz Barforoush, Faculty editor
Alfred Hermida, Faculty editor
Best News Website:
Gold: Maclean’s (Rogers Media)
Jason Kirby, Managing Editor, Digital
Alison Uncles, Editor-in-Chief
Silver: The Narwhal (The Narwhal News Society)
Emma Gilchrist, Co-founder
Carol Linnitt, Co-founder
Ictinus, Web development and design firm
Best Community News Website:
Gold: Apt613 (Apartment613 Community Initiatives)
Hannah Manning, Editor
Philippe Ha, Community Manager
Greggory Clark, General Manager
Hingman Leung, 613TV Creative Director
Chantalle Clarkin, 613TV Creative Director
Josh Lemoine, Podcast Producer
François Levesque, Board Chair & Co-Founder
Katie Marsh, Board Member & Co-Founder
Althia Raj, Board Member & Co-Founder
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