It’s an honour he would have shrugged his shoulders at and said there are more people deserving.
Late Morning Star managing editor Glenn Mitchell has been named the 2021 winner of the Eric Dunning Integrity Award through the B.C. Yukon Community Newspaper Association’s annual Ma Murray Awards competition.
The award is given to a person for dedication and service to the community news media industry.
Mitchell, who died Dec. 17, 2020, began his career with Black Press as a reporter for the Hope Standard before returning to his Vernon hometown to join the fledgling Morning Star as sports editor in 1988. He held that post for a short time before becoming editor of the Star’s sister paper, the Salmon Arm Observer.
Mitchell returned to the Morning Star as managing editor and kept that position until his retirement in 2018.
“It’s important for the community to know that The Morning Star existed, and was so successful, was due to Glenn,” said former Morning Star publisher Mark Warner. “No doubt about it, it was always his newspaper. In my career, there were not a lot of editors in his class. But most of all, he was a really good man.”
When the Morning Star was published three times a week, Mitchell would be the last to leave the building after he went through each page carefully, checking for errors.
His beloved Sunday column, Mitchell’s Musings, was a fixture and enjoyed by many in the community. It was Glenn’s look at life, politics, sports, family, music, vacations. He wrote with passion, humour and integrity.
“We are absolutely thrilled that the B.C. Yukon Community Newspaper Association has recognized Glenn with this award,” said Morning Star reporter Jennifer Smith, who worked the longest beside Mitchell of the current editorial staff, 15 years. “If ever there was a person dedicated to his craft with humility and integrity, it was Glenn.”
The Ma Murray Award winners will be announced virtually on April 29. Smith is a double award finalist, and reporter Brendan Shykora is also up for an award.
The Morning Star is a finalist in general excellence in its circulation category, the second-largest of the seven divisions.
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