Presenting the Winners of the 2021 Digital Publishing Awards

The National Media Awards Foundation revealed the winners of the 2021 Digital Publishing Awards in a virtual ceremony hosted by Erica Lenti and live-streamed on our website (you can watch the broadcast here). Gold winners in creator-focused categories received a $500 cash prize, in addition to their award.

If you are a Gold winner, please contact us with your mailing address and SIN in order to receive your cash prize and certificate. Certificates for Silver winners and Honourable Mention are available upon request. 

Winners and finalists can also celebrate their achievement by downloading Gold, Silver or Finalist’s seals here.

Winners’ Highlights

  • CBC News is a three-time silver winner in the categories of Best Digital Editorial Package, Best Social Storytelling, and Best Virtual Event. 
  • The Globe and Mail has received five Gold medals and five Silver medals in total, and The Globe and Mail’s “Gone” project has won Gold twice, for Innovation in Digital Storytelling and Best Digital Design.
  • The Local has won two Gold medals—including General Excellence in Digital Publishing (Small)—and two Silver medals.
  • The Narwhal has earned two Gold medals—including the prestigious award for General Excellence in Digital Publishing (Medium)—and one Silver medal.
  • The National Film Board of Canada is a two-time Silver winner, in Best Online Video: Feature and Innovation in Digital Storytelling. 
  • Radio-Canada is the winner of three Gold medals—including one for General Excellence in Digital Publishing (Large)—and two Silver medals.
  • The Tyee received two Gold medals, including the Emerging Excellence award for Christopher Cheung.

EMERGING EXCELLENCE AWARD / PRIX D’EXCELLENCE : TALENT EMERGENT

Award sponsored by the Reader’s Digest Foundation / Prix commandité par la Fondation Reader’s Digest
GOLD

Christopher Cheung
The Tyee

HONOURABLE MENTION

Justine de l’Église
Radio-Canada

Anya Zoledziowski
VICE Canada

BEST DIGITAL EDITORIAL PACKAGE / MEILLEUR DOSSIER THÉMATIQUE

GOLD

Carbon Cache
The Narwhal
Stephanie Wood, Sarah Cox, Lindsay Jones, Darren Calabrese, Amber Bracken, Emma Gilchrist

SILVER

COVID-19
CBC News
CBC News Digital Team

HONOURABLE MENTION

Vies noires, espaces verts – Black Lives, Green Spaces
BESIDE
Catherine Métayer, Caroline R. Paquette, Mark Mann, Casey Beal, Eliane Cadieux, Gabrielle Deronde, Olivier Mercier-Chan Kane, Phillip Dwight Morgan, Gaelle Elma, Carolyn Finney, Naima Green, Ricardo Lamour, Nzingha Millar, Fabrice Vil, Florence Rivest, et al. 

60 Years of Indigenous Music Game Changers
CBC Music
Jesse Kinos-Goodin, producer; Ossie Michelin, Rhiannon Johnson, Andrea Warner, Holly Gordon, Melody Lau, Jesse Kinos-Goodin, writers; Mer Young, David J. Cutler, Mishiikenh Kwe, Samantha Leigh Smith, Ben Shannon, art; Geoff Isaac, Ben Shannon, website design; Vivian Tabar, video

Future of Cities
The Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail team

BEST SERVICE FEATURE / JOURNALISME DE SERVICE

GOLD

Hidden Canada: Home and Away
The Globe and Mail
Jennifer Allford, Domini Clark, Jeremy Freed, Waheeda Harris, Johnny C.Y. Lam, Stacy Lee Kong, Gayle MacDonald, Benjamin MacDonald, Christopher Manza, Susan Nerberg, Amy Rosen, Maryam Siddiqi

SILVER

Day Tripping From Home: 12 Hours in Paris
Air Canada enRoute
Sydney Loney
Contributors:  Lori Morgan, photo editor; Photo Researcher: Thomas Bouquin, photo researcher; Gabrielle Simpson, senior graphic designer, digital; Nancy Kovacs, product and content manager; et al.

HONOURABLE MENTION

How To De-Escalate A Mental Health Emergency Without Calling The Police
HuffPost Canada
Al Donato
Contributors: Chloe Tejada, Reporter

L’effet instagram : la retouche comme nouvel idéal de beauté?
Rad
Olivier Arbour-Masse, Pasquale Harrison-Julien, journalistes; Thomas Christopherson, vidéastes/monteurs; Mathieu Waddell, réalisateur; Johanne Lapierre, rédactrice en chef; Pasquale Harrison-Julien, chef de pupitre; et al.

Canada’s Kitchen
The Globe and Mail
Julie Van Rosendaal, Maryam Siddiqi, Benjamin MacDonald, Christopher Manza, Liam Mogan, Ashley Denton, Alanna Davey

Pandemic Academics: A parent’s guide to the COVID-19 classroom
Toronto Star
Kenyon Wallace, Patty Winsa, Andres Plana, Nathan Pilla

A Lack of Racial Understanding Can Ruin Relationships
VICE Canada
Manisha Krishnan
Contributors: Natasha Grzincic

BEST COLUMN / MEILLEURE CHRONIQUE

GOLD

Chronique Société
L’actualité
Noémi Mercier

SILVER

Black Light
CBC Arts
Amanda Parris 
Contributors: Leah Collins, Editor

HONOURABLE MENTION

Ramadan 2020
Chatelaine
Radiyah Chowdhury

Jennifer Ditchburn’s columns
Policy Options
Jennifer Ditchburn

André Picard
The Globe and Mail
André Picard

The Listener
The Sprawl
Sam Hester

Michael Harris
The Tyee
Michael Harris

Does talking about racism make you uncomfortable? You Should Ask Yourself Why.
TVO
Nam Kiwanuka
Contributors: Sarah Sweet, deputy editor; Graeme Bayliss, editor-in-chief

Should I?
VICE Canada
Manisha Krishnan
Contributors: Josh Visser, Natasha Grzincic

My Queer Kitchen with Jennifer E. Crawford: Pandemic Edition
Xtra Magazine
Jennifer E. Crawford
Contributors: Marissa Leon-John, co-writer of one column; Gordon Bowness, editor; Erica Lenti, editor; Corey Misquita, video producer; Riley Sparks, producer/story editor; Chelle Turingen, managing producer; Rachel Giese, editorial director; Allison Baker, copy editor

BEST NEWS COVERAGE (COMMUNITY PUBLICATION) / MEILLEURE COUVERTURE DE L’ACTUALITÉ (PUBLICATION COMMUNAUTAIRE) 

GOLD

Sydney’s Casino at 25
The Cape Breton Spectator
Rob Csernyik; Mary Campbell, editor

SILVER

Where the Pandemic Hit the Hardest
The Local
Aparita Bhandari

HONOURABLE MENTION

MTL Blog
MTL Blog
Thomas MacDonald, senior editor; Alanna Moore, associate editor; Ilana Belfer, associate editor; Lea Sabbah, staff writer; Teddy Elliot, staff writer; Gabi Sandler, writer; Katina Goulakos, writer; Ezra Black, writer

KPMG report: Dr. Barker knew Rothberg was Rootenberg before she hired him
SooToday.com
David Helwig

The Casino Crapshoot
The Halifax Examiner
Rob Csernyik; Tim Bousquet, editor; Philip Moscovitch, editor

The 35 Jane
The Local
Tai Huynh

BEST NEWS COVERAGE / MEILLEURE COUVERTURE DE L’ACTUALITÉ

Award sponsored by Cision Canada / Prix commandité par Cision Canada
GOLD

COVID-19 risk and you
Toronto Star
Patty Winsa, May Warren, Kenyon Wallace, Ed Tubb, Cameron Tulk, Nathan Pilla, Andres Plana

SILVER

Reporting on China’s Xinjiang region and Uyghur minority
The Globe and Mail
Nathan VanderKlippe, Patrick Dell, Evan Annett

HONOURABLE MENTION

WE Charity
Canadaland
Jesse Brown, Jaren Kerr, Shannon Kari, Jonathan Goldsbie, Andréa Schmidt, Kasia Mychajlowycz, John-Allan Namu

Nova Scotia Mass Shooting
CBC News
Elizabeth McMillan, Aly Thomson, Shaina Luck, Preston Mulligan, Haley Ryan, Anjuli Patil, Cassidy Chisholm, Brett Ruskin, Kayla Hounsell, Eric Woolliscroft, Brian MacKay, Monty Mosher, Steve Lawrence, Dave Irish, Angela MacIvor, Jennifer MacMillan, et al. 

Couverture de la COVID-19
Radio-Canada
Naël Shiab, Daniel Blanchette Pelletier, Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski, Francis Lamontagne, Santiago Salcido, Charlie Debons, André Guimaraes, Mathieu St-Laurent, Melanie Julien, Martine Roy

Bias Behind Bars
The Globe and Mail
Tom Cardoso, Dawn Calleja, Ming Wong, Galit Rodan, Evan Annett, Randy Velocci, Murat Yükselir, Christopher Manza

Wet’suwet’en coverage
The Narwhal
Carol Linnitt, Amber Bracken, Stephanie Wood, Emma Gilchrist, Martin Lukacs, Shiri Pasternak

Crisis in Care
Toronto Star
Kenyon Wallace

BEST SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STORYTELLING / MEILLEUR REPORTAGE: SCIENCE ET TECHNOLOGIE

GOLD

Notifications: Prière de me déranger
Radio-Canada
Nicholas De Rosa

SILVER

We are all plastic people now, in ways we can’t see – and can no longer ignore
The Globe and Mail
Rick Smith
Contributors: Mark Medley, Lisan Jutras, Deb Baic, Patrick Dell, Evan Annett, Fred Lum

HONOURABLE MENTION

Disinformation For Hire: How A New Breed Of PR Firms Is Selling Lies Online
BuzzFeed News
Craig Silverman, Jane Lytvynenko

Coronavirus vaccine tracker
CBC News
Emily Chung
Contributors: Matt Crider, Andrew Ryan, Dwight Friesen, Richard Grasley, CBC News Labs, Elizabeth Haggarty

The Faux Fish Coming to a Restaurant Near You
Hakai Magazine
Brian Payton

Taking the Fish Out of Fish Feed
Hakai Magazine
Brian Payton

Vaccin contre le coronavirus: sprinter un marathon
Le Devoir
Alexis Riopel, Antoine Béland, Cédric Gagnon

British Columbia’s looming extinction crisis
The Narwhal
Sarah Cox
Contributors: Emma Gilchrist, Carol Linnitt, Sarah Hammond

The Gauntlet Fraser Salmon Must Travel, A Two-Part Package
The Tyee
Christopher Pollon and Andrew Walsh
Contributors: Hakai Institute

What Scientists Are Learning About Near-Death Experiences
Zoomer
Carolyn Abraham

BEST FEATURE ARTICLE / MEILLEUR ARTICLE DE FOND

GOLD

Teaching Indigenous Star Stories
The Walrus
Kelly Boutsalis
Contributors: Brit Ellis, illustrator; Allison Baker, fact-checker; Viviane Fairbank, handling editor

SILVER

Two metres and a world apart: Life in lockdown for me and my disabled son
The Globe and Mail
Ian Brown
Contributors: Chloë Ellingson, Lisan Jutras, Clare Vander Meersch

HONOURABLE MENTION

Programme énergétique national : l’est l’a oublié, l’ouest le hait toujours
Radio-Canada Alberta
Tiphanie Roquette, Audrey Neveu
Contributeur: Mylène Briand

Sexe, handicap et pandémie
Radio-Canada
Justine de l’Église

‘For our children’: How families are passing down Indigenous languages
TVO.org
Shelby Lisk
Contributors: Sarah Sweet, Graeme Bayliss, Tehatsistahawi Kennedy, Wilhelmina Beauvais, Karen Mosko, Ian McCallum, Jason Jones, Shirley Andy, Debbie Parliament, Marsha Ireland

INNOVATION IN DIGITAL STORYTELLING / INNOVATION DE L’ANNEE 

Award sponsored by Natalie Vineberg / Prix commandité par Natalie Vineberg
GOLD

Gone
The Globe and Mail
Stephanie Nolen, Laura Blenkinsop, Jeremy Agius, Timothy Moore
International Contributor: Félix Márquez

SILVER

Far Away From Far Away
National Film Board of Canada
Written by Michael Crummey from conversations with Zita Cobb; Bruce Alcock, Jeremy Mendes, creative directors; Produced by the National Film Board of Canada

HONOURABLE MENTION

America Votes
CBC News
Richard Grasley, Alisa Mamak, William Wolfe-Wylie and Matt Crider, Andrew Ryan, Meghan Sardesai, Richa Syal, CBC News Labs, Éric Grenier, Benjamin Blum, Alexander Panetta

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
National Film Board of Canada
Jam3; National Film Board of Canada

Visualisations de données en 3D
Radio-Canada
Naël Shiab, Daniel Blanchette Pelletier, Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski, Francis Lamontagne, Santiago Salcido, Charlie Debons, André Guimaraes, Mathieu St-Laurent, Melanie Julien, Martine Roy

Paddle of the Century
The Doc Project, CBC Radio
Jonathan Ore, Kevin Ball, Lakshine Sathiyanathan, Althea Manasan, Geoff Isaac

BEST FEATURE ARTICLE (SHORT) / MEILLEUR ARTICLE COURT 

GOLD
SILVER
HONOURABLE MENTION

Moka Dawkins Says Toronto Jail Experience Violated Her Human Rights
HuffPost Canada
Denio Lourenco
Contributors: Andree Lau, editor; Andrew Yates, editor

In full bloom: Toronto’s cherry blossoms are off limits in High Park – but you can still see them here
The Globe and Mail
Marty Klinkenberg, Carlos Osorio, Melissa Tait
Contributors: Christopher Manza, Theresa Suzuki

StatsCan Releases Survey to Assess Diversity on Nonprofit Boards
The Philanthropist Journal
Fatima Syed

BEST FEATURE ARTICLE (LONG) / MEILLEUR ARTICLE DE FOND (LONG)

GOLD

A Long-Term Tragedy
The Local
Simon Lewsen

SILVER

‘Them plants are killing us’: inside a cross-border battle against cancer in Ontario’s rust belt
The Narwhal
Hilary Beaumont
Contributors: Carol Linnitt, Christopher Katsarov Luna, Brian Bienkowski

HONOURABLE MENTION

Pollinisation extrême
BESIDE
Eugénie Emond
Contributors: Catherine Métayer, Caroline R. Paquette, équipe éditoriale; Eliane Cadieux, Gabrielle Deronde, Olivier Mercier-Chan Kane, équipe design; Drowster, Eliane Cadieux, Nicolas Gouin, photographes; Guillaume Rivest, vérification des faits

Life, death and being a man in Medicine Hat
CBC Calgary
Robson Fletcher
Contributors: Colleen Underwood, Monty Kruger, Rachel Maclean

Elliot, an alcoholic, asked his parole officer for help. She sent him back to prison
Global News
Jane Gerster
Contributors: Jasmine Pazzano, Laura Whelan, Max Hartshorn

Can I be a Black mother in a world so dangerous to Black children?
The Globe and Mail
Hadiya Roderique
Contributors: Mark Medley, editor; Lisan Jutras, editor

He said, they said: inside the trial of Matthew McKnight
The Globe and Mail
Jana Pruden
Contributors: Amber Bracken, Dawn Calleja, Evan Annett, Patrick Dell, Jason Lin

Objectivity Is a Privilege Afforded to White Journalists
The Walrus
Pacinthe Mattar
Contributors:  Nicole Schmidt, fact-checker; Samia Madwar, handling editor

Journal d’une vidange – Un mois dans les caps d’un éboueur (*article publié en 5 parties)
URBANIA
Jean Bourbeau

Inside the second wave of the HIV epidemic in the Philippines
Xtra Magazine
Arvin Joaquin
Contributors: Eternity Martis, handling editor; Rachel Giese and Gordon Bowness, editors; Allison Baker, copy editor/fact-checker; Jade Zhang, artist

BEST PERSONAL ESSAY / MEILLEUR ESSAI PERSONNEL

GOLD

Dire adieu à sa grand-mère par facetime
RAD
Journaliste : Mathieu Papillon Monteur Texte et narration : Valérie Ouellet Illustrations : Victor Kurc Direction artistique : Charles Fortier : Florence Pelletier  Réalisateur : Mathieu Waddell Chef de pupitre : et al. 

SILVER

I donated my kidney to help a stranger. But what about the person I couldn’t help?
The Globe and Mail
Wency Leung
Contributors: Carol Toller, Mark Medley, Adam Cruft, Fred Lum, Bryan Gee, Evan Annett

HONOURABLE MENTION

I Tried To Talk To My Bosses About Racism At Work
Chatelaine
Denise Balkissoon

Can I be a Black mother in a world so dangerous to Black children?
The Globe and Mail
Hadiya Roderique
Contributors: Mark Medley, Lisan Justras, Jorian Charlton, Clare Vander Meersch, Melissa Tait, Evan Annett

IVF was my last hope to have a baby. All Canadians deserve that hope, too
The Globe and Mail
Melissa Stasiuk
Contributors: Carol Toller, Mark Medley, Fred Lum, Bryan Gee, Evan Annett

Been Caught Stealing: Life Inside The Lorraine
The Sprawl
Heidi Klaassen

Hate Social Media but Love Nature? There’s an App for That
The Walrus
Emily Urquhart
Contributor: Nikky Manfredi, fact-checker
Handling Editor: Daniel Viola

The Author Who Shaped the Way We Represent Disability
The Walrus
Meagan Gillmore
Contributor: Ariella Garmaise, fact-checker
Handling Editor: Carine Abouseif

I Look for Ways to Blow Up My Life During the Pandemic
VICE Canada
Minelle Mahtani
Contributor: Natasha Grzincic

A transgender, bisexual, non-binary writer calls their future into being
Xtra Magazine
Dede Akolo
Contributors: Allison Baker, Brian Wong; Gordon Bowness, editor

Getting sober and coming out
Xtra Magazine
Niko Stratis
Contributors: Danielle Groen, Allison Baker, Brian Wong; Erica Lenti, editor

BEST DIGITAL DESIGN / MEILLEURE CONCEPTION NUMÉRIQUE

GOLD

Gone
The Globe and Mail
Stephanie Nolen, Laura Blenkinsop, Jeremy Agius, Timothy Moore
International Contributor: Félix Márquez

SILVER

The Uncounted
Toronto Star
Nathan Pilla
Contributors: McKenna Deighton, Andres Plana, Tania Pereira

HONOURABLE MENTION

America’s Medical Supply Crisis
Global Reporting Centre
Andrew Munroe & Britney Dennison
Contributors: Martha Mendoza, Juliet Linderman, Britney Dennison, Kate McCormick, Stephane Lavoie, Irena Hwang, Sharon Nadeem, writing/reporting; Britney Dennison, Andrew Munroe, digital producers; Peter Hamlin, illustration; Andrew Munroe, design/development; et al. 

Far Away From Far Away
National Film Board of Canada
Written by Michael Crummey from conversations with Zita Cobb; Bruce Alcock, Jeremy Mendes, creative directors; Produced by the National Film Board of Canada
Contributors: Intergalactic, interactive programming; Ruby Joy, narrator; Shawn Cole, sound design; Justin Simms, director of photography

BEST ARTS & CULTURE STORYTELLING / MEILLEUR REPORTAGE : ARTS ET CULTURE

GOLD

Le tailleur qui ravive la pierre de Saint-Marc
Radio-Canada Empreintes
Eugénie Emond
Contributeurs: Denis Wong, photos; Olivia Laperrière-Roy, design et photos; Émilie Larivée-Tourangeau, édition

SILVER
HONOURABLE MENTION

Give Us Permanence—Ending Anti-Black Racism in Canada’s Art Institutions
Canadian Art
Syrus Marcus Ware

60 Years of Indigenous Music Game Changers
CBC Music
Jesse Kinos-Goodin, producer; Ossie Michelin, Rhiannon Johnson, Andrea Warner, Holly Gordon, Melody Lau, Jesse Kinos-Goodin, writers; Mer Young, David J. Cutler, Mishiikenh Kwe, Samantha Leigh Smith, Ben Shannon, art; Geoff Isaac, Ben Shannon, website;  Vivian Tabar, video

The Fault, Dear Reader, Is Not in Our Stars
The Walrus
Carly Lewis
Contributors: Cienna Smith, illustrator; Sydney Hamilton, fact-checker; Daniel Viola, handling editor

When Male Writers Confront Toxic Masculinity
The Walrus
Philip Sayers
Contributors: Justin Dallaire, fact-checker; Carmine Starnino, handling editor

BEST ONLINE VIDEO: SHORT / MEILLEURE VIDÉO EN LIGNE : FORMAT COURT

GOLD

Marion et les collages féministes
Le Devoir
Daphnée Hacker-B., Cédric Gagnon, Bénédicte Millaud

SILVER

Au front, aux soins intensifs de l’Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal
Radio-Canada
Simon Coutu, journaliste; Maryse Gagnon, rédactrice en chef; Frédéric Lacelle, réalisateur; Charlie Debons-Ricard, motion designer

HONOURABLE MENTION

The Original Pandemic
CBC Arts
Lucius Dechausay, Des Mckenzie

Are you making these face mask mistakes?
CBC News
Amara McLaughlin, Roxanna Woloshyn, Anne MacRae, Scott Galley, Tashauna Reid

The race for a vaccine
CBC Toronto
Chris Glover, Paul Borkwood

Cécile et la deuxième vague de COVID-19
Le Devoir
Jasmine Legendre, Matt Joycey, Bénédicte Millaud

Roundup
National Film Board of Canada
Nettie Wild, director; Produced by the National Film Board of Canada

Le choc des cultures
ONFR+
Andréanne Baribeau, Amine Beckoury, Aimé Majeau Beauchamp

‘We’re still a neighbourhood’: A Toronto couple runs errands for their COVID-19 isolated community
The Globe and Mail
Timothy Moore

BEST ONLINE VIDEO: FEATURE / MEILLEURE VIDÉO EN LIGNE : FORMAT LONG

GOLD
SILVER

60 Day Cycle
National Film Board of Canada
Colin Jones, Darcy Wittenburg, directors; Darcy Wittenburg, writer; Produced by the National Film Board of Canada

HONOURABLE MENTION

Perfumed Dreaming
National Film Board of Canada
Kathleen Hepburn, director; Produced by the National Film Board of Canada

Bibelot et bingo : la vieillesse vue autrement
Radio-Canada
Joannie Lafrenière

When fracking and hydro dams collide
The Narwhal
Ben Parfitt, Jayce Hawkins, Carol Linnitt

We Crack Open Dr. Henry’s Model for Taming the Pandemic
The Tyee
Jesse Lupini, Koby Michaels, Lucas Kavanagh, Jeanette Ageson, David Beers

BEST ONLINE VIDEO: MINI-DOC / MEILLEURE VIDÉO EN LIGNE : MINI-DOCUMENTAIRE

GOLD

Manhunt, Manitoba
The Globe and Mail
Timothy Moore, Melissa Tait

SILVER

Agriculture : le Québec loin de l’autonomie alimentaire
Radio-Canada
Maxime Corneau, journaliste; Étienne Marcoux, réalisateur; François Dubuc, motion designer; Georges Sheehy, François Warnet, Marie-Andrée Cormier, preneurs de son; Catherine Marineau-Dufresne, réalisatrice-coordonnatrice; et al.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Canada’s a Drag: Mx. Wolverine, Toronto
CBC Arts
Lucius Dechausay, Peter Knegt, Mercedes Grundy

The Bomb Captain
CBC Podcasts
Craig Desson, Evan Aagaard, producers/editors; Evan Aagaard, camera/cinematography; Geoff Turner, Jessica Linzey, Francis Plourde, original reporting; Arif Noorani, executive producer; Emilie Quesnel, digital producer

Amachewespimawin: Shooting for the Cree way of life
CBC Saskatchewan
Madeline Kotzer, Heidi Atter, Matt Duguid, Trent Peppler

How the Nova Scotia mass shooting unfolded: 13 hours. 22 dead. 16 crime scenes.
Global News
Emanuela Campanella, James Hawkins, Julieta Tobon, Brian Royer, Christian Jeri

Fraude Organisée
Rad
Simon Coutu, journaliste; Johanne Lapierre, rédactrice en chef; Thomas Christopherson, Patrick André Perron, Carl Mondello, vidéaste; Jean-Philippe Gagnon, monteur; Mathieu Waddell, réalisateur; Pasquale Harrison-Julien, chef de pupitre; et al. 

BEST PODCAST: ARTS & CULTURE / MEILLEUR BALADO : ARTS ET CULTURE

GOLD

Cool Mules
Canadaland
Kasia Mychajlowycz, host/reporter/producer; Jesse Brown, producer/co-writer; Jonathan Goldsbie, research; Nathan Burley, music; Chandra Bulucon, sound design/mixing

SILVER

The Hopeful
The Hopeful
Shayda Omidvar, Portia Larlee, Claire Brassard, Ryan Clarke

HONOURABLE MENTION

Les pires moments de l’Histoire avec Charles Beauchesne – Saison III
URBANIA
Charles Beauchesne, animation; Charles Beauchesne, Odrée Rousseau, François DeGranpré, texte et recherche; Barbara-Judith Caron, réalisation; Lucie Fournaison et Alexandre Sarkis, montage; Raphaëlle Huysmans et Philippe Lamarre, producteurs exécutifs

Off The Chart: Xtra’s L Word podcast
Xtra Magazine
Erica Lenti, Chelle Turingan, co-hosts; Chelle Turingan, producer/audio editor; Rachel Giese, executive producer; KidKulit, music

BEST PODCAST: NEWS & POLITICS / MEILLEUR BALADO : ACTUALITÉS ET POLITIQUE

GOLD

Laissez-nous raconter l’histoire crochie : Décoloniser l’Histoire un mot à la fois
Radio-Canada
Production Terre Innue en collaboration avec Radio-Canada OHdio; Marie Andrée Gill, animation; Brad Gros-Louis & Karine Lanoie-Brien, co-réalisateurs; Karine Lanoie-Brien, concept; Isabelle Picard, recherche; Lynne Trépanier, prise de son; et al. 

SILVER

Brainwashed
CBC Podcasts
Michelle Shephard, host/writer; Chris Oke & Lisa Ellenwood, writers/producers; Cesil Fernandes, sound design; Sarah Melton, associate producer; Emilie Quesnel, digital producer; Evan Aagaard, video producer; Ben Shannon, art director

HONOURABLE MENTION

CANADALAND
Canadaland
Jesse Brown, host; Kasia Mychajlowycz, senior producer; Roslyn Kufuor, senior producer; Andréa Schmidt, managing editor; Kevin Sexton, managing editor; Tiffany Lam, Karl Dockstader, Sean Vanderklis, and Justin Ling, contributing reporters

Recall: How to Start a Revolution
CBC Podcasts
Geoff Turner, Jessica Linzey, Francis Plourde, creators;  Geoff Turner, showrunner; Arif Noorani, executive producer; Jessica Linzey, Francis Plourde, associate producers; Geoff Turner, Jessica Linzey, Francis Plourde, writers; Emilie Quesnel, digital producer

Satanic Panic
CBC Podcasts
Lisa Bryn Rundle, host; Lisa Bryn Rundle & Ilina Ghosh, script writers; Arif Noorani, executive producer; Tanya Springer, producer; Christopher Oke, editor; Olivia Pasquarelli, scoring and music supervision; Evan Kelly, sound engineer; Emilie Quesnel, digital producer

Party Lines
CBC Podcasts & CBC News
Elamin Abdelmahmoud, Rosemary Barton, Emma Godmere, Kristin Nelson; Fabiola Melendez Carletti, digital producer

Le Casanova de Montréal
QUB radio Le Bureau d’enquête
Brigitte Noël, Anne-Sophie Carpentier, Étienne Roy, Ève Lévesque, Bastien Gagnon-Lafrance, Philippe Séguin

Dérives
Radio-Canada
Olivier Bernard, animateur et réalisateur; Jo-Annie Larue, chef de projet de contenu; Alain Kemeid, conseiller au contentu; Annie Reeves,  directrice développement et production audionumérique; et al.

Spacing Radio
Spacing
Glyn Bowerman, Neil Hinchley, Matthew Blackett

The Big Story
The Big Story
Jordan-Heath Rawlings, Claire Brassard, Stefanie Phillips, Ryan Clarke

BEST PHOTO STORYTELLING / MEILLEUR RÉCIT PHOTO

GOLD

Pollinisation extrême – Extreme pollination
BESIDE
Drowster, Eliane Cadieux, Nicolas Gouin, photographes; Eugénie Émond, journaliste

SILVER

The Frozen Front Line
The Globe and Mail
Louie Palu, Clare Vander Meersch, Christopher Manza, and Globe visuals team

HONOURABLE MENTION

24 Hours Around the World
Air Canada enRoute
Lori Morgan, photo editor; Gabrielle Simpson, senior graphic designer, digital; Thomas Bouquin, photo researcher; Stefanie Sosiak, art director; Nancy Kovacs, product and content manager; Kate Wells, senior digital editor; Jody Sugrue, editor-in-chief; Andrew Elkin, managing editor

State of erosion: the legacy of Manitoba Hydro
The Narwhal
Aaron Vincent Elkaim, Carol Linnitt, Stephanie Wood, Raina Delisle

In photos: Wet’suwet’en matriarchs arrested as RCMP enforce Coastal GasLink pipeline injunction
The Narwhal
Amber Bracken, Carol Linnitt

Meet the people saving Canada’s native grasslands
The Narwhal
Amber Bracken, Emma Gilchrist

BEST EDITORIAL NEWSLETTER / MEILLEURE INFOLETTRE EDITORIALE 

GOLD

Infolettre Quatre95
URBANIA / Quatre95
Jean-Pierre Bastien, rédaction; Marc-Antoine Jacques, design; Théo Gjini, David Mongeau-Petitpas, intégration

SILVER

LiisBeth: Dispatch
Liisbeth.com Dispatch
Meral Mohammad Jamal, Lana Pesch, Margaret Webb, pk mutch

HONOURABLE MENTION

Hi, Art!
CBC Arts
Leah Collins

L’actualité politique
L’actualité
Mathieu Carbasse, Alec Castonguay, Pierre Fortin, Philippe J. Fournier, Chantal Hébert, Rafael Jacob, Karel Mayrand et Camille Payant

Le courrier du coronavirus
Le Devoir
Alexis Riopel, Alexandre Shields, Olivier Sylvestre, Claire Dazat

Le courrier américain
Le Devoir
Philippe Papineau, Baptiste Barbe, Stéphane Baillargeon, Carine Touma, Sarah Boumedda et Guillaume Saint-Hilaire

Globe Climate Newsletter
The Globe and Mail
Sierra Bein

The Narwhal Newsletter
The Narwhal
Arik Ligeti

The Supplement Newsletter
The Supplement
Samantha McCabe, Alex Nguyen, Sierra Bein

BEST SOCIAL STORYTELLING / MEILLEUR RÉCIT SUR LES MÉDIAS SOCIAUX

GOLD

24 Treats of Christmas
The Globe and Mail
Lori Fazari, Ming Wong, Wenting Li

SILVER

Canadian stories of COVID-19
CBC News
CBC News Social Team

HONOURABLE MENTION

Grosse Année
RAD
Mathieu Papillon, Nicolas Pham, Alessandra Rigano, journalistes; Johanne Lapierre, rédactrice; Pasquale Harrison-Julien, chef de pupitre; Carolina Cabral, coordonnatrice de production; Ariane Lafleur, stratège; Charles Forti, direction artistique

Covid Corner
Cabin Radio
Ollie Williams

BEST VIRTUAL EVENT / MEILLEUR ÉVÉNEMENT VIRTUEL

GOLD

Avenue magazine Top 40 Under 40 Meet the Class of 2020
Avenue
Käthe Lemon, RocketHouse (Steve Klintberg-Nagy and Zoe Klintberg-Nagy), Dallas Flexhaug

SILVER

Confronting COVID: The National Virtual Town Hall
CBC News
Lara Chatterjee, Angela Naus, Meg Banks, Steve Pennie, Cheryl Brown, Natalie Crowell, Joel Perron

HONOURABLE MENTION

AZ Awards Gala 2020
Azure Magazine
Nelda Rodger, Elizabeth Pagliacolo, Vicky Lee, Anna Lin, Kari Silver, Evan Pavka, Mahasti Eslahjou, Wyatt Clough, Paddy Harrington, Tristan Marantos, Jessica Allen, Francesco Sgaramella

Quel avenir pour les ensembles et paysages patrimoniaux ?
Esquisses, le magazine de l’Ordre des architectes du Québec
Cathy Beauséjour, conseillère en communication (OAQ); Virginie Harvey, coordonnatrice de la formation continue (OAQ); Véronique Bourbeau, directrice des communications et des relations publiques (OAQ); Association des architectes paysagistes du Québec

Ask & Answer: Government Pandemic Support
HuffPost Canada
Althia Raj, host/producer; Amanda De Souza, producer; Stephane Sannuto, director; Allia McLeod, supervising producer; Luisa Cruz, floor director; Sasha Nagy, executive producer; Jessica Zimmerman, post-production supervisor

Microfestival – Pierre Kwenders Live
URBANIA
Pierre Kwenders, artiste; Gabriel Lajournade, réalisateur; Nicolas Roy-Bourdages, directeur technique; Alexis Demers, Aiguilleur Xavier Havitov, ingénieur son; Natan B. Foisy, Antoine Benhini, caméramans; Francis Robert, assistant caméra; et al.

GENERAL EXCELLENCE IN DIGITAL PUBLISHING: SMALL

GOLD

GENERAL EXCELLENCE IN DIGITAL PUBLISHING: MEDIUM

GOLD
HONOURABLE MENTION

Canadaland
The Walrus
URBANIA

GENERAL EXCELLENCE IN DIGITAL PUBLISHING: LARGE

GOLD
HONOURABLE MENTION

CBC News
The Globe and Mail

Acknowledgements

The National Media Awards Foundation is incredibly grateful for the support of: the Government of Canada, the Ontario Arts Council and Ontario Creates. We are also thankful for the support of CCR Solutions, Cision and Magazines Canada

A special thank you to the talented Natalie Vineberg, who created this year’s visuals. 

Thank you to Vesselin Stroumsky, for developing the NMAF’s online submissions and judging platforms. 

We are also grateful to our roster of volunteer judges, who lent us their expertise and diligence in evaluating this year’s entries — thank you! To view the full roster of judges, please visit our website.

Live Blog at 4pm ET: Presenting the 5th Annual Digital Publishing Awards

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The day has arrived! At 4pm ET, the winners of the 2020 Digital Publishing Awards will be unveiled in a livestream digital presentation on Twitter.com/DPAwards and you can follow along here on digitalpublishingawards.ca.

Be sure to keep refreshing this page to see live updates starting from 4pm ET. We are looking forward to sharing all the exciting news with you, your friends and colleagues.

If you’re hosting a watch party with Zoom or other video conferencing tools, or you’re a DPA winner, we want to hear from you!

Send us your photos, videos or speeches by email at staff@magazine-awards.com or tag us on Twitter @DPAwards or on Facebook @DPAwards. We will share your tweets, posts and videos here on our live blog and on our social media channels.


[5:20pm] That concludes our Winners Celebration! Thank you to everyone for joining us and a huge congratulations to the outstanding winners and finalists of the 2020 Digital Publishing Awards!

See the complete list of winners, including honourable mentions, at digitalpublishingawards.ca/announcing-the-winners/

[5:16] Closing out the #DPA20 Winners Celebration, the nominees and winners of General Excellence: Large Publication…

[5:13] Now presenting General Excellence: Medium Publication…

[5:09pm] We’re down to the final award! General Excellence is split into 3 divisions honouring publications that live up to their editorial mandate, meet high journalistic standards, and serve their intended audience by taking full advantage of the opportunities digital mediums offer.

First up, let’s see who takes home the gold in the small publication division…

[5:05pm] Let’s take a look at Innovation in Digital Storytelling…

[5:00pm] Check out this excellent work nominated in Best Digital Design…

[4:58pm] Next up, Best Podcast…

[4:55] We have a tie for gold in Best Editorial Newsletter!

Love this, thank you for sharing!

[4:50pm] Now onto Best Social Storytelling… let’s see who takes home the gold…

[4:48pm] The next award recognizes outstanding use of photography to tell a story, including photojournalism, photo essay, photo galleries, conceptual photography and photo-illustration. Now revealing the #DPA20 winners in Best Photo Storytelling…

[4:46pm] Best Online Mini-Doc is next, check out these outstanding nominees and winners…

Let’s hear from the winners!

[4:42pm] Let’s take a look at Best Online Video: Feature…

[4:40pm] Now presenting Best Online Video: Short

[4:36pm] Next up is Best Science & Technology Storytelling…

[4:34pm] Best Arts & Culture Storytelling honours go to…

[4:30pm] Let’s take a look at the Best Service Feature nominees and winners!

[4:26pm] Next up is Best Personal Essay – be sure to bookmark these great reads!

[4:24pm] Let’s take a look at the nominees and winners in Best Feature Article: Long…

[4:22pm] Best Feature Article coming up…

The #DPA20 gold in Best Feature Article goes to “How the RCMP found Canada’s most wanted fugitives with a raven, a Cree trapper and luck” by @RenataDAliesio and @MelTait of the @globeandmail. Congratulations!

Read this award-winning piece here.

[4:20pm] Now presenting Best Feature Article: Short

[4:15pm] Let’s see who the #DPA20 Best Column gold medal goes to…

[4:12pm] Best News Coverage: Community Publication is announced!

Congrats to @XtraMagazine – gold winners in #DPA20 Best News Coverage: Community Publication for “Rainbow Votes 2019: LGBTQ2S Issues and the Canadian Federal Election”. Congrats @EricaLenti@rachelagiese and team! Read the award-winning coverage here.

We love hearing from the winning team – big congrats!

[4:10pm] Let’s see who takes home Best News Coverage…

[4:05pm] Best Digital Editorial Package is presented!

Check out the award-winning piece here: https://globalreportingprogram.org/fishmeal/

[4:02pm] The #DPA20 Emerging Excellence Award goes to @JaneLytv of @BuzzfeedNews. Establishing herself as a global leader in debunking disinformation along with her vision and leadership skills impressed our jury. Congrats, Jane! Explore Jane’s work here: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/author/janelytvynenko

Congratulations, Jane!

[4:00pm] And we’re off! The 5th Annual Digital Publishing Awards open with words from our 2020 Digital Publishing Leadership award winner, Dmitry Beniaminov.

This award is generously sponsored by the Reader’s Digest Foundation @ReadersDigestCA, a charity dedicated to the development of Canadian journalism, and supporting journalists and creators. Thank you!

Interview Series: Matthew Halliday of The Deep

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At last year’s Digital Publishing Awards, The Deep took home the award for General Excellence in Digital Publishing, in the Small Publications category. Founded in Halifax in 2017, The Deep Magazine grew out of co-founders’ Matthew Halliday and Chelsea Murray’s desire to create a home for impactful long form journalism in Atlantic Canada. The publication has quickly carved out a niche of carefully researched and reported pieces that bring to light “stories that don’t otherwise get told,” as executive editor Halliday puts it. 

We called Halliday in Halifax to learn more about the story behind The Deep, the challenges and rewards of running a publication that focuses on one region, and what it was like to take home a DPA. 

Could you tell us a bit about how The Deep was founded?

I am the co-founder, along with my partner Chelsea. Chelsea and I met in Toronto as magazine stream students in the Ryerson Master of Journalism program. We were mutual fans of deep dive, narrative long-form. Then we became personal partners there. I’m from Alberta, and she’s from New Brunswick, and she wanted to move out east. So about five years ago we did that. We worked in communications jobs and did freelance work—I’m now a full-time freelance journalist, as well as executive editor of The Deep.

We came out here and realized, Toronto and southern Ontario are pretty well served, comparatively, by magazines, but there isn’t a robust magazine culture across Canada in different regions, necessarily. So we wanted to bring that deep dive narrative writing to the East Coast; to provide a place where writers who had the chops and the experience and the desire to do it, could do it and get paid decently to [write] here, about this region.

You know The Atavist Magazine—that was kind of the model to begin with, one big story a month. We started it up in partnership with The Coast magazine, which is the alt weekly here in Halifax—like the NOW Magazine of Halifax—they provided some in-kind support, some resources, mentorship, that kind of thing. It’s a partnership with them, but editorially independent. And rather than just covering the city here, we cover all four provinces. We launched with a Kickstarter in October 2016, and then spent the winter of 2016-2017 working away at our first crop of stories, and then launched last August.

The Deep Magazine cofounders Matthew Halliday, Executive Editor, and Chelsea Murray, Editor
The Deep Magazine co-founders, Matthew Halliday and Chelsea Murray

What do you feel are the specific challenges of operating this kind of publication with a regional focus, or specifically with a regional focus on Atlantic Canada? What makes it different from a publication that caters to the whole country?

It is a drawback and a strength, in a way, that we have a narrower audience. It’s a much smaller audience than a national publication would have— there are 2.5 million people in the Atlantic region.

This is a region that’s sort of off the editorial map of Canada. The Globe went several years without even having anyone here in the Atlantic bureau. It’s a place that doesn’t get covered a lot, and when it does get covered it’s often from a stereotypical kind of perspective. A lot of parachute journalism; a lot of reporting that plays off stereotypes of the place that are maybe outdated, or don’t reflect the way people live here.

We get to tell the stories that don’t get told otherwise. And readers here have really responded. So I think focusing on a region that’s off the map a bit actually is a strength, because people here are really hungry for that kind of thing.

Illustration of two shadowy figures walking away from a countryside home at night.
Illustration by Aziza Asat for The Deep, from Oscar Baker III’s story “A History of Violence”

Why do you think that might be the case, that this region gets sort of overlooked by other media?

Canadian media is highly concentrated in Toronto, and so there’s sort of a lack of awareness, often. I worked in Toronto media for years, and I know tons of people there, and I love them. I love the city, and I love the media and journalism community there. But nevertheless there is certainly sometimes a myopia that can develop when everybody’s in one place.

Even when people come from across the country, people develop that myopia sometimes. There’s sort of a lack of awareness, and a lack of interest in what’s going on elsewhere. Or the interest in what’s going on in that one part of the country gets conflated with national interests.

And then there’s the pure business case—it’s a smaller region. The GTA is three times the population of the entire Atlantic region, so there’s that as well.

Image of person in black winter clothing walking in snowy mountain landscape.
Photo of Labrador by Jennie Williams for The Deep, from Matthew Halliday’s recent story “Homeland.”

You mentioned that you’re also working freelance; what’s it like balancing that with full-time editorial work?

Very difficult [laughs]. I worked at St Mary’s University, which is one of the universities in the city here, doing a communications role with them, and I left that earlier this year to go full-time freelance, and it’s been a great choice. I’ve had a lot of luck and success and it’s been really good.

Part of the reason I did that was so I could spend more time on The Deep. I didn’t want to be balancing a nine to five office job with The Deep and freelance.

The Deep is basically run out of Chelsea’s and my attic in our house. It’s kind of: work all day and The Deep at night, sort of thing. There is no separation, really. It’s a lot of work. We do love the work though! To work with some of the best writers in the region, to develop these editorial relationships and this back and forth and process of revision that doesn’t really happen a lot… Working on a story for six or eight months—which is not something that I think a lot of writers here get a chance to do, unless they’re writing for an out of region publication—that’s really rewarding and fun.

What are the challenges of working on stories for such a long time? It must present some different challenges from pieces that have a fast turnaround.

Part of it is, you want to make sure you’re doing something that is timely. It’s the same challenge that anyone would have at any major magazine, where there’s six months or a year lead times. But specifically out here, a lot of writers haven’t done that, maybe. It’s new to a lot of writers. You’re going to be working on this for half a year, it’s going to require a whole bunch of revision—that’s not something that a lot of people have done, necessarily. That can be new.

But yeah, just making sure it’s a story that is going to be relevant when it’s finally published. Making sure no one else picks up on it. Then again, that is the benefit of working in a region that doesn’t kind of get the coverage it deserves: you don’t get scooped as much.

GE Small The Deep

You won the DPA for General Excellence in a small publication, and this is the award for a magazine that best fulfills its editorial mandate. I was wondering if you could say a bit about The Deep’s editorial mandate. What are its goals?

To tell those stories that don’t otherwise get told. In bullet form: to tell fascinating, entertaining, compelling, and important stories about this region that don’t otherwise get told. They don’t have to be East Coast-y in any particular way. The only stipulation is that there’s something that happened here, or that there’s some connection.

For example, we had a piece a few months ago—the writer [Oscar Baker III] is part Mi’kmaq, from the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick, and part African-American, and grew up in Florida. His piece was mostly set in Florida, and talked about growing up in that world; the tension between those two cultures that informed his upbringing. So that was mostly in the southeastern United States, but there was that Atlantic connection.

What was it like, the experience of winning the award? What did that mean for you and everyone that collaborates with you?

It was great. Our readership has been really good, we have strong readership, so we know that people are out there reading the magazine. But we’re in a bit of a bubble. Chelsea and I are just working in our attic most of the time, separated from the world. We see feedback—we see traffic on the site, and we see feedback online, and that’s all great. But it feels sort of depersonalized, kind of distant, out there. So to be recognized by our peers in the industry is fantastic.

To go back to Toronto and see a lot of the people we worked with at magazines there, and have them saying, “Hey, this is a great thing you’re doing.” To be recognized by the publishing and magazine world is really very gratifying. We’re not in it for the awards, but it definitely gives us a boost to let us know that people are out there paying attention, and we’re doing something worthwhile.


Cover illustration by Aziza Asat for The Deep Magazine, from Chelsea Murray’s story “Joe and the Whale.”

Interview conducted by Jill Blackmore Evans.

Submissions for the 2019 Digital Publishing Awards will open on January 2, 2019. Click here for everything you need to know about submitting an entry, and follow us on Twitter for the most up-to-date news. 

 

 

Thank you! From the 2018 Digital Publishing Awards

From all of us at the National Media Awards Foundation, thank you to everyone who helped make the 3rd annual Digital Publishing Awards a great success.

Special thanks to Kenny Yum—last year’s Digital Publishing Leadership Award winner—for starting off the night by congratulating the nominees and thanking the 78 volunteer judges; Adrian Lee for hosting the event and keeping the audience laughing throughout the night; and Irene Thomaidis, for introducing this year’s Digital Publishing Leadership Award winner, Brodie Fenlon.

Thanks also to Mathieu Baril (managing director of DDI Canada) who presented the winner of the Best Podcast or Audio Storytelling category! 

We are enormously grateful for our 78 judges, who are the crux of the award program. You can read more about the 2018 roster of judges here.

Many thanks to those who attended the event (and to those who followed along via the live-stream and on Twitter), and to the participants, nominees, and winners of this year’s awards. We hope you enjoyed celebrating the best of Canada’s digital talent, and we look forward to welcoming you back in 2019 for the 4th annual DPAs!

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Visit live.digitalpublishingawards.ca to view all the winners of the 2018 Digital Publishing Awards. The 2019 Call for Entries will open on January 1st, 2019. Follow us on Twitter (@DPAwards) for updates.

Photo credit: Steven Goetz Storytelling

2018 Digital Publishing Award Winners

Twitter Card - 2018 DPA Winners

The National Media Awards Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Digital Publishing Awards. This awards season saw 79 Canadian digital publications enter their best work from 2017, for consideration in 23 awards categories. 78 dedicated judges carefully evaluated the entries, deliberated upon the finalists, and on May 29th, the Gold and Silver winners were announced at the annual DPA Soirée, hosted by Adrian Lee.

20 different digital publications took home Gold and Silver medals. From them, four (HuffPost Québec, ICI Radio-Canada Première, The Deep and The Sprawl) were first-time winners.

Gold winning publications included Canadian Art, CBC News, Global News (globalnews.ca), Hakai Magazine, HuffPost Quebec, ICI Radio-Canada Première, The Globe and Mail, The Sprawl, The Walrus, and TVO.org. In most categories, the Digital Publishing Awards Gold winners received a $500 cheque alongside their award.

Taking home Silver medals were Air Canada enRoute, BuzzFeed Canada, CBC Original Podcasts, Discourse Media, Hazlitt, National Observer, Options politiques, Today’s Parent, Toronto Life, and VICE.

“Congratulations to all the winners of the third annual Digital Publishing Awards. Your success highlights not just your creativity and excellence in journalism, but your mastery of digital platforms to tell compelling stories. It is a reminder of the vast pool of talented creators, and publishers, in Canada’s digital media industry. We’re thrilled to recognize your wonderful work through the DPA program.” — Nino Di Cara, NMAF President

GENERAL EXCELLENCE IN DIGITAL PUBLISHING

The 2018 award for General Excellence in Digital Publishing was presented in three divisions: small, medium, and large publications.

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The Deep won the Gold Medal for General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small Publications. “They’re doing remarkable work with a very small staff, using their resources intelligently so that each story has the greatest impact. Their mandate—to tell in depth stories based on the East Coast—feels not only necessary, especially with the erosion of local news, but like one that they are well-positioned to carry out, considering their balance of a considered design with engaging stories,” remarked the digital publishing awards jury. “As traditional publishers grapple with diminished capacity, it will take efforts like those of The Deep, to ensure deeper, longer stories are still told and more importantly, heard!

Honourable Mention in General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small Publications was awarded to Fjord Review and National Observer.

Hakai Magazine received the Gold medal for General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Medium Publications. “Hakai is the realization of what a great digital magazine can be. With beautiful imagery, clean design, crisp writing, and well-integrated digital features, Hakai sets the standard for a high-quality digital publication,” said the Digital Publishing Awards jury. “Everything about the site is in support of its content and the reader, as it should be.”

Hakai Magazine received six other awards in various categories, including a second Gold in Best Online Video – Feature for “Here Be Tiny Dragons (and Other Micro Beasts).”

Honourable Mention General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Medium Publications was given to Passport and Today’s Parent.

The winner of the General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Large Publication award went to The Globe and Mail.  The jury had this to say: “The Globe and Mail team produced an extremely innovative body of work. Their editorial mandate was not only fulfilled, it was surpassed and truly represented the highest of journalistic standards.”

Le Devoir and Winnipeg Free Press received Honourable Mention in Digital Publishing: Large Publications.

EMERGING EXCELLENCE AWARD

Elizabeth Melito, CBC News

ElizabethMelito

Elizabeth Melito of CBC News was recognized as this year’s recipient of the Emerging Excellence Award. The Emerging Excellence Award jury was “exceptionally impressed by Elizabeth’s clear demonstration of leadership and initiative in a large and respected organization like CBC News. She joined CBC News, her first media job, in 2015. In a short time she has earned a high level of respect and responsibility and has developed two custom long-form development tools that have been rolled out nationally at CBC.”

 

 

DIGITAL PUBLISHING LEADERSHIP AWARD

Brodie Fenlon, CBC News

Brodie Fenlon CBCBrodie Fenlon,  the Senior Director of Daily News and Bureaus for the CBC, was the recipient of the 2018 Digital Publishing Leadership Award. The award honours an individual whose career contributions to Canadian digital publishing deserve recognition and celebration.

 

 

 

 

WINNERS HIGHLIGHTS

The leading publication in this year’s Digital Publishing Awards is The Globe and Mail. The “Unfounded” investigation—led by Dennis Choquett, Robyn Doolittle, Laura Blenkinsop, Jeremy Agius, and Michael Pereira—won Gold in both Best Digital Editorial Package and Best News Coverage.

Hakai Magazine was also a top-winning publication, receiving two Gold medals, two Silver medals, and three Honourable Mentions. Jude Isabella, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, contributed to three of those winning pieces.

 

“Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2017,” published in Air Canada enRoute, won two silver medals, in the categories of Best Online Video: Short and Best Digital Editorial Package.

 

Global News (globalnews.ca) was a two-time winner: “Canada’s #ToxicSecret” was the Gold winner in the Best Social Storytelling category, while “Fire Watch: B.C. Wildfire Coverage” was the Silver winner in the Best News Coverage category.

 

Visit live.digitalpublishingawards.ca to view the winners in all 23 categories. Follow the Digital Publishing Awards on Twitter @DPAwards and #DPA18.

A complete list of the nominees and winners, in all 23 categories, can be found at live.digitalpublishingawards.ca.

2018 DIGITAL PUBLISHING AWARDS RESULTS

Emerging Excellence Award
Elizabeth Melito, CBC News

Digital Publishing Leadership Award
Brodie Fenlon, CBC News

General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small
The Deep

General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Medium
Hakai Magazine

General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Large
The Globe and Mail

Best Digital Editorial Package
GOLD: Unfounded, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2017, Air Canada enRoute

Best Blog or Online-Only Column
GOLD: Lauren McKeon, TVO.org
SILVER: Ici et ailleurs: Chronique d’Alain Noël, Options politiques

Best News Coverage: Small Newsroom
GOLD : The Sprawl: 2017 Election Edition, The Sprawl
SILVER: Kinder Morgan’s Pipeline in Canada, National Observer

Best News Coverage
GOLD: Unfounded, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: Fire Watch: B.C. Wildfire Coverage, Global News (globalnews.ca)

Best Feature Article: Short
GOLD: Aleppo Mayor, written by Cathal Kelly, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: This Is How Your Hyperpartisan Political News Gets made, written by Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed Canada

Best Feature Article: Long
GOLD: The Making of Joseph Boyden, written by Eric Andrew-Gee, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: Death of a Modern Wolf, written by J.B. MacKinnon,  Hakai Magazine

Fiction
GOLD: Young Tomorrow, written by Sean Michaels, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: Half-Pipe, written by Zoe Whittall, Hazlitt

Best Personal Essay
GOLD: Black on Bay Street, written by Hadiya Roderique, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: Kids of addiction, written by Trevor Jang, Discourse Media

Best Arts & Culture Story
GOLD: A Road Trip with Christopher Pratt, written by Mireille Egan, Canadian Art
SILVER: Kent Monkman: The modern touch of an old master, written by Dakshana Bascaramurty, The Globe and Mail

Best Science and Technology Story
GOLD: Understanding the quantum computing revolution, written by Ivan Semeniuk, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: Watts in the Water, written by Bruce Grierson, Hakai Magazine

Best Service Feature: Lifestyle
GOLD: Le Montréal oublié, written by Daphnée Hacker-B., HuffPost Québec
SILVER: Where to Eat Now, written by Mark Pupo, Toronto Life

Best Service Feature: Family & Health
GOLD: How do I talk to my five-year-old about white supremacy?, written by Kalli Anderson, The Walrus
SILVER: Fortunate Son, written by Erin Anderssen, The Globe and Mail

Best Online Video: Short
GOLD: How close are we to the end of the world? Check the Doomsday Clock, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2017 – Battuto, Air Canada enRoute

Best Online Video: Feature
GOLD: Here Be Tiny Dragons (and Other Micro Beasts), Hakai Magazine
SILVER: The ultimate gift: How two dads finally got their son, Today’s Parent

Best Online Video: Mini-Doc
GOLD: Dancing Towards the Light, CBC News
SILVER, Age of Consent, VICE

Best Podcast & Audio Storytelling
GOLD: Disparue(s), ICI Radio-Canada Première
SILVER: Someone Knows Something – Dee & Moore, CBC Original Podcasts

Best Digital Design
GOLD: Census 2016, CBC News
SILVER: The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail

Best Photo Storytelling
GOLD: Canada through the lens of Syrian refugees, The Globe and Mail
SILVER: Single Mothers of Afghanistan, The Globe and Mail

Best Social Storytelling
GOLD: Canada’s #ToxicSecret, Global News (globalnews.ca)
SILVER: Coming to Canada: The Immigration and Refugee System, CBC News

Best Digital Initiative
GOLD: A City Destroyed: Experience the Halifax Explosion, CBC News
SILVER: Weigh Anchor, The Globe and Mail

Congratulations to all the winners!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Digital Publishing Awards gratefully acknowledges the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Canadian Periodical Fund, the Ontario Arts Council and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

The NMAF thanks its partners and generous sponsors: Cision, DDI Canada, Readers Digest Foundation and Very Good Studios.

The NMAF offers its sincere thanks to the highly skilled professionals who generously contributed their time and expertise as judges of the Digital Publishing Awards competition.