The Alberni Valley News won four awards at the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspaper Awards on Saturday, April 25.
The News earned a bronze for newspaper excellence in our circulation category, pitting us against several other newspapers of similar size across B.C. and the Yukon.
Editor Susie Quinn won a bronze for Environmental Writing, for a story on Rainy Bay ‘citizen scientist’ Peter Mieras and his documentation of a shark necropsy in the Victoria area last year.
Black Press Media digital team members Katya Slepian—a former AV News reporter—and Ashley Wadhwani won bronze for Best Breaking News Video for their online coverage of the northern B.C. murders last summer.
Wadhwani also won bronze for Best Multimedia Breaking News Story for her online and print coverage of the final RCMP report into the Manitoba manhunt from last summer.
News publisher Teresa Bird was one of 32 journalists from the region to earn a Silver Quill award for dedication to the community newspaper industry for 25 years.
Bird has worked as a journalist, editor and publisher at the Westerly News in Ucluelet, North Island Gazette in Port Hardy and the Alberni Valley News.
“Our team at Alberni Valley News is proud to live and work in this community, and their passion for the Alberni Valley shows in the pages we publish every week,” says Bird.
“Whether you read us online, in print or both, you can be sure we are delivering our best effort every day to keep you informed.”
The Alberni Valley News began publishing in Port Alberni on Aug. 25, 2006. Our staff of five produce one print edition and maintain our website seven days a week.
Black Press Media publications won nearly 70 awards, including 20 gold in various categories. The awards gala, which usually happens at the River Rock Casino in Richmond, was cancelled this year due to COVID-19, and the awards were announced via video Saturday night.
The Westerly News in Ucluelet-Tofino won bronze in their circulation category, while Parksville-Qualicum News won bronze.