Cloverdale Reporter staff members were honoured at the BC & Yukon Community News Media Association’s annual Ma Murray Awards gala on Saturday night.
Marketing and media consultant Cynthia Dunsmore was recognized for her decades of experience in the newspaper industry, as well as for her excellence in ad design, and former reporter Grace Kennedy was acknowledged as one of the most promising new journalists in B.C. and the Yukon.
Grace Kennedy is a talented young journalist who consistently elevates the print and digital publications of her newsroom with compelling storytelling, detailed original research, and interactive online content. She was awarded New Journalist of the Year, alongside two other deserving recipients. The new category was introduced this year to acknowledge the work of reporters with less than two years of experience in the business.
Kennedy was hired as a reporter for the Cloverdale Reporter and the North Delta Reporter in February of 2017, and quickly demonstrated her strength as a writer. In the first year she was eligible to submit her work, she received a silver and bronze Ma Murray award in feature series.
The judges wrote that Kennedy is “the perfect example of what a reporter in 2019 needs to be. [She] is persistent, consistently demonstrates initiative and innovation, and always works to find new ways to tell stories that are important to the communities she serves.”
At the end of December 2018, Kennedy accepted a position as an Editor/Reporter at the Agassiz Harrison Observer, where she continues to raise the bar.
On Saturday night, she won bronze again in feature series, for articles she wrote while a reporter for the North Delta Reporter. In “Finding Success,” she discussed the different rates of academic success for Delta’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, examining efforts to change and improve the system.
Cynthia Dunsmore, multimedia sales representative at the Cloverdale Reporter, was honoured with a Silver Quill, recognizing her more than 25 years experience in the newspaper business.
Dunsmore began her career in the newspaper industry in 1985 as a sales representative with the Globe & Mail. She met her husband, an officer in the RCMP, and their first posting took them to Campbell River, where she joined the sales team at the Campbell River Mirror.
After 24 years at the Mirror, she moved to the Lower Mainland, where she became the Cloverdale Reporter‘s marketing and media consultant. She has been a celebrated part of the Reporter team for seven years.
Over her career, Dunsmore has earned many awards for ad design and excellence in sales. Saturday evening’s award ceremony was no different — she went home with a bronze award in collaborative ad design for creating a striking advertisement for Cloverdale’s Honeybee Centre.
The judges said that the “easily readable and informative” advertisement was well-balanced, and, coupled with a strong image and colour choice, “really drove attention” to the page.
To read more of Kennedy’s current work, go to agassizharrisonobserver.com. To see Dunsmore’s award-winning ad design, read an issue of the Cloverdale Reporter, available online and in print.
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