There were 16 different publications that won Digital Publishing Awards this year. Among them, 10 publications received their first-ever DPA.
This year, a total of 75 different Canadian publications participated in the Digital Publishing Awards, submitting their best work for consideration in 21 categories. Among them, 34 publications were nominated. Out of those 34, the following 16 publications prevailed, winning Gold or Silver awards.
Take a look at this year’s Digital Publishing Award winning publications:
Canadian Art
Editorial Mandate: In print and online, Canadian Art’s foremost mandate is to cover art accessibly and intelligently, without depending on the languages and approaches of the academy or the market. We believe passionately in inclusivity. Canada is a diverse country with diverse artistic practices happening inside and outside gallery walls.
Digital Publishing Awards: Gold – General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small Publications
canadianart.ca
“The originality and the creativity of the article subjects is striking,” said the Digital Publishing Awards jury. “Making a magazine that’s both dense and approachable is what every editor hopes to achieve, and Canadian Art has succeeded where a lot of us fall short.” – General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small Publications Jury
Canadian Press
Editorial Mandate: The Canadian Press is Canada’s most trusted news source, delivering comprehensive, accurate, impartial and balanced news reporting from Canada and around the world. More than 200 of our journalists produce award-winning stories, photos, graphics, audio and video, delivered round the clock and in real time to hundreds of news outlets, government agencies and private firms. We have been keeping Canadians informed and telling people the story of their country for almost a century.
Digital Publishing Awards: Gold – Best Online Video: Feature
Toddler with paralysis zips around in homemade wheelchair
CBC News
Editorial Mandate: As Canada’s national public broadcaster, we are here to serve our Canadian audience and help them understand the news events that shake and shape their world. We are rooted in every region of the country and strive to reach as many Canadians as possible, providing them with information when and how they want it. We reflect the country and regions back to itself. We serve the public’s interest and reflect its diversity, while remaining independent, responsible and be accountable. We value accuracy, fairness, balance, impartiality and integrity.
Digital Publishing Awards:
Gold – General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Large Publications
According to the jury: “CBC News represents a high-water mark for digital publishing in Canada. Outstanding writing is backed up with photography, video and interactive assets across a breath of topics that matter to Canadians. The team at CBC News continues a great tradition of producing a site that not only leads its peers in Canada but stands comfortably with any news organization in the world.”
Gold – Best News Coverage: Local & Provincial, The Frontline of Fentanyl
According to the jury: “The Frontline of Fentanyl, as a digital journalism project, successfully told the ongoing story of a serious crisis impacting BC communities through the use of video, photos, links, audio content – even a spreadsheet with useful, current, information on drug rehab facilities and available treatment programs. The investigative journalism was impressive, but what was most impressive was the usefulness of the digital content – a solid example of how CBC BC’s use of digital journalism not only ‘told the story,’ but served its community through impactful storytelling that will benefit Canadians as a whole – for years to come.”
Gold – Best Service Feature: Family, Health & Careers, Saving Sid
Gold – Best Online Video: Short, How the powerful opioid fentanyl kills: A CBC News explainer
According to the jury: “This short video had a true documentary feel from beginning to end, where all elements were woven together with utmost success — including the music, graphics, text, overall style and even the fades. It was informative and easy to digest.”
Silver – Best Blog or Column, Presidential Poll Tracker
According to the jury: “With its “Poll Tracker”, the CBC took full advantage of digital tools and data research to help its readers understand the American presidential election in many ways, coming from many angles. Éric Grenier’s sober analysis and understated tone provided excellent insights and contextual details to help understand the final result.”
Silver – Best Podcast, Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams
Silver – Best Digital Design, U.S. election: Live results
Digital Publishing Awards:
Silver – Best Feature Article: Short
Online Scam Artists Are Using Hoaxes About Terrorist Attacks To Make Money
Silver – Best Arts & Culture Story
What We Lose When POC Entertainers Crack Into The Mainstream
According to the Best Arts & Culture Story Jury:
“Providing a long view on a platform known for short videos, Navneet Alang crafts a vital dialogue about the loss of intimacy and recognition that results from mainstream exposure.”
Discourse Media
Editorial Mandate: Discourse produces investigations, analysis and data journalism focused on matters of public importance: gender, environment, education, urban development, the economy, politics, Indigenous issues and more. We look for gaps in reporting and pursue stories that have potential for impact.
Digital Publishing Awards: Silver – Best Editorial Package
Power Struggle
“When it comes to digital content, I try to look for things that are able to tell a story beyond text and images; elements that take advantage of the screens we use. Finding and showing different angles to a story, whether it’s through live, dynamic data, video, maps, etc. are what earn “Power Struggle” a top spot in this category.” – Best Digital Editorial Package Jury
Digital Publishing Awards: Silver – Best Feature Article: Long
Crocodiles Rising
“Shanna Baker’s Crocodile Rising is a beautifully written piece filled with colourful characters and one very deadly beast. Baker manages to weave the complexities of trying to protect a man eater facing the pressures of modern society and its economy into a fascinating nature tale.” – Best Feature Article: Long Jury
Silver – Best Online Video: Feature
The Right To Roam
https://player.vimeo.com/video/155595143?color=28879b&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0
Hakai Magazine also received Honourable Mention in General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small Publications, Best Feature Article: Long and Best Online Video: Mini-Doc.
Digital Publishing Awards: Silver – Best Personal Essay
A Grief Like This by Chantal Braganza
Hazlitt received Honourable Mention in Best Podcast.
Digital Publishing Awards: Gold – Best Online Video: Mini-Doc
Salute
“Salute was a beautiful display of compelling storytelling. Centred around dynamic Canadian veterans, it was skillfully filmed and edited, keeping you captivated from beginning to end.” – Best Online Video: Mini-Doc Jury
HuffPost Canada also received Honourable Mention in Best Social Storytelling, Best Online Video: Feature and Best Blog or Column. Kenny Yum also won the Digital Publishing Leadership Award.
Digital Publishing Awards: Silver – Best Digital Initiative
Allez-vous être remplacé par un robot? Demandez-le à… notre robot!
“This was truly an innovative way to tell a news story. It pulled us in by telling you your own story, while also staying focused on the bigger picture. The piece was written with voice and was a truly memorable experience.” – Best Digital Initiative Jury
Naël Shiab of L’actualité also won the Emerging Excellence Award.
Policy Options
Editorial Mandate: A forum for discussion on Canadian public policy issues, from diverse voices and on a wide-range of subjects. 
Digital Publishing Awards: Gold – Best Blog or Column
Tim Caulfield, The Cure
From the Best Blog or Column Jury:
“Tim Caulfield’s “The Cure” is an enticing combination of blog and column—it has a strong voice, compelling subject, forceful convictions, and reliable intelligence. He comes at his subject from a unique angle and meets his reader on a high plane.”
“Tim Caulfield’s column takes on psuedosicence with humour and relevant facts, he is myth-busting at the higher level. At a time when anti-intellectualism is at a height, we need more writers like Tim Caulfield who can present scientific evidence in an interesting and clear way and debunk the pseudoscience that can be at best wasteful, and at most dangerous.”
Policy Options also received Honourable Mention in Best Blog or Column.
Ryerson Review of Journalism
Editorial Mandate: The Ryerson Review of Journalism (RRJ) is Canada’s watchdog on the watchdogs. Founded in 1984 by the late Don Obe, former chair of the Ryerson School of Journalism, this award-winning magazine is produced by graduate and undergraduate students in their final year with the support of faculty and industry professionals. Obe believed that the RRJ’s job was to probe the quality of journalism in Canada. After nearly three decades, we’re still on assignment.
Digital Publishing Award: Gold – Best Digital Initiative
Why Diversity
Ryerson Review of Journalism‘s first online, interactive feature, #WhyDiversity, is an in-depth interactive discussion about the problems with diversity in the journalism industry – the long-standing excuses for the lack of change, the failures of the style guides we use for reporting on non-white communities and the hate mail that has become an unwritten tradition for reporters of diverse issues or backgrounds.
Digital Publishing Award: Silver – Best Online Video: Short
15 Fun Facts About Sperm
According to the jury: “This video tied in well with a very specific audience and imparted a lot of information in a light-hearted, playful manner. The illustrations were well-done and the crayon-like colouring again fit with the viewership in a friendly way to provide the (often awkward) information. Great editing and use of audio/visuals from start to finish.”
Today’s Parent received Honourable Mention in Best Service Feature: Lifestyle.
Digital Publishing Awards:
Gold – Best Digital Editorial Package, The Trafficked
According to the Jury: “This story stayed with me for a while after consumption. Above the other entries, this piece was very effective at drawing me in. The power of the web is the user being able to choose what they read next, but when there are too many choices, it’s a burden on the experience. This package is a collection of stories, but there was a strong guidance, which was compelling.”
Gold – Best Feature Article: Short, Crichton Farm
Gold – Best Feature Article: Long, Graffiti Kids
According to the jury: “Mark MacKinnon’s Graffiti Kids was a standout in a field of standouts, making good use of classic reporting skills and digital storytelling tools to reveal a fascinating story that helps showcase the global and personal impact, and the senselessness, of war.”
Gold – Best Personal Essay, The Widowhood Effect
Gold – Best Podcast, Colour Code
Gold – Best Social Storytelling, Crichton Farm
Gold – Best Arts & Culture Story, North Exposure
According to the jury: “So often work in the digital medium is experimental for the sake of it, and it’s rare that new digital forms are used in a way that’s in harmony with the content to enhance the experience for the reader in a way that goes beyond design flare. Using the choose-your-own-adventure-style storytelling that has become popular online in both fiction and role-playing games creates an intimacy in this piece by Mark Medley.”
Gold – Best News Coverage: National & International, Fentanyl Crisis
Silver – Best News Coverage: National & International, What’s In Your Weed?
Silver – Best News Coverage: Local & Provincial, When a Tree Falls
According to the jury: “When a Tree Falls took an unusual tragedy – the death of a man by a tree branch – and dug deeper. The journalists transformed what may have generally been a ‘forgettable’ story and made it ‘memorable,’ through the use of images, graphs, digital content and even quizzes. It was beyond educational and impactful. The ongoing series served the Globe readers – and Toronto residents – by examining something that many would have considered to be a ‘freak accident,’ and concluded that, instead, this was a death that was likely preventable. The journalists’ work, overall, produced a compelling piece of digital journalism. “
Silver – Best Online Video: Mini-Doc, Growing Pains
According to the jury: “Growing Pains was an excellent piece of journalism that provided viewers with a well-rounded look at how Toronto and its surrounding area have grown over the years. The incorporation of archival imagery, juxtaposed with scenes from today was tactfully edited together, along with strong interviews that kept audiences engaged.”
Silver – Best Feature Article: Family, Health & Careers, The Globe 100: Best Books of the Year
The Globe and Mail received Honourable Mention in Best News Coverage: National & International, Best Feature Article: Long, Best Personal Essay, Best Online Video: Short and General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Large Publications.
Digital Publishing Awards: Gold – Best Digital Design 
torontolife.com
Toronto Life received Honourable Mention in Best Service Feature: Lifestyle, Best Digital Initiative and General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small Publications.
Digital Publishing Awards: Silver – Best Service Feature: Family, Health & Careers
It’s Never Been Less Safe To Try Out Drugs
VICE also received Honourable Mention in Best News Coverage: National & International.
Editorial Mandate: Weddingbells.ca is where unforgettable weddings begin. The site provides unique inspiration and concrete planning information to help every Canadian woman achieve her dream wedding day. With an eye to the importance of visually-impactful content, which is paramount to brides, the site offers its readers creative decor ideas, style advice, vendor suggestions, comprehensive honeymoon itineraries and galleries of photos from the country’s most breathtaking real weddings to help each woman define her day.
Digital Publishing Award: Gold – Best Service Feature: Lifestyle
2016 Wedding Trends Guide
Congratulations to all of this year’s winning publications & creators.
To view all the winners & nominees of the 2017 Digital Publishing, click here.