The Hope Standard has brought home five awards from the 2018 Canadian Community Newspaper Awards (CCNA), which celebrate “the best in community publishing from across the country.”
The Standard was awarded a second place for best all-round newspaper and another second place for best front page in the up to 1,249 circulation category.
“It’s good to know that The Hope Standard won back-to-back awards both provincially and nationwide. Winning this year again goes to show The Standard is setting the standard,” said former editor X.Y. Zeng, referring to awards over the past two years.
These include: a first for general excellence at the 2018 provincial Ma Murray Awards, first for sports photo and third for classifieds at the 2017 Ma Murrays, and a third for best all-round newspaper, second for best front page and third for best editorial page at the 2017 CCNAs.
Zeng’s exploration of the Kinder Morgan pipeline and the people who support it won first place for best business writing at the 2018 CCNAs, in a category including newspapers across Canada with circulations of up to 9,999.
Giving voice to those in the community who are in support of the pipeline was important for Zeng, as it is a voice not often given space in B.C. or national media.
“It was part of my duty to ensure that the people who were supporting it were heard. We hear a lot of coverage about how British Columbia is against it, but it’s certainly not something that is evenly spread out,” he said. “People towards the coast have a very different opinion from people who are in Hope and beyond Hope.”
Sports reporter Barry Stewart’s “Sports Day,” of two girls taking a tug-of-war very seriously, took home a third place for best sports photo.
Another third place was awarded for “Class of 2017,” a photo essay on Hope’s graduating class. The latter was a joint effort between Stewart and Zeng.
Stewart, who has been submitting photos to the Hope Standard since the 1980s and filing a weekly sports story since 1998, said his ability to capture unique moments in sport comes down to experience, knowledge of the game and getting up close.
A physical education teacher for 38 years, avid soccer player and referee, Stewart can anticipate the play and position himself for the perfect shot.
“I realized long ago that I could come into a situation and know the angles, know what the picture would look like from a different angle. Like when you’re standing in one spot and then see in my mind’s eye what it would look like from behind the goal or 50 yards down,” he said.
Stewart said his photography has come a long way from his first assignment when he came back to the newsroom with a photo of Theresa Murphy, a Laidlaw veterinary student, with her entire horse in the frame. His editor at the time, Frank Klassen, drew a circle around the faces of Murphy and her horse and told him “the picture is right here.”
The advice stuck. “If you can get close without too much space around it, that makes a more impactful shot,” Stewart said. Despite working his craft for the better part of four decades, Stewart was pleasantly surprised by the win and added it’s been a long time coming with the past few years bringing in several awards for his photography.
The Hope Standard is a community newspaper covering Hope, the Fraser Canyon up to Boston Bar, and Sunshine Valley. With community news sources increasingly under threat of closure, such as the June announcement that Postmedia Network Inc. will close six community newspapers across Canada, Zeng emphasized the importance of local news.
“It’s part labour of love and the other part is making sure you’re playing your part as part of your community,” he said of his role as editor in Hope.
“Community newspapers actually are very important in informing people what’s happening in your community. Particularly when it comes to council. Because often times, the newspaper is the only place where this information is disseminated.”
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