Globe and Mail wins in 6 of 21 categories at National Newspaper Awards

TORONTO – The Globe and Mail won six of the 21 categories at the National Newspaper Awards on Friday, and the newspaper’s Robyn Doolittle was named 2017 Journalist of the Year.

Doolittle was chosen for her investigative series called “Unfounded,” which revealed how frequently police forces across the country concluded that sexual assault allegations, even in cases with seemingly strong evidence, did not warrant the laying of charges, or even further investigation.

A release from the National Newspaper Awards said the judges found Doolittle’s series “had a major impact across the country by prompting police services to re-examine their approach to investigating allegations of sexual assault.”

The Toronto Star and La Presse each won four awards and other news organizations — Edmonton Journal, Hamilton Spectator, Halifax Chronicle Herald, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, St. Catharines Standard and Vancouver Sun — won one each.

The Globe and Mail won in a variety of categories, including Investigations, Beat Reporting, and Arts and Entertainment.

The winners were announced at a gala dinner in Toronto.

Here are the winners, as released by the National Newspaper Awards:

– Arts and Entertainment: Eric Andrew-Gee of the Globe and Mail for an attempt to reconstruct the disputed and tangled Indigenous heritage of renowned Canadian author Joseph Boyden.

– Beat Reporting: Sean Fine of the Globe and Mail for an examination of Canada’s judicial system after time limits on criminal proceedings were imposed by the Supreme Court.

– Breaking News: La Presse for team coverage of an attack by a white supremacist on the Centre culturel islamique de Quebec in Ste-Foy that left six worshippers dead.

– Business: Robert Cribb and Marco Chown Oved of the Toronto Star for their deep dive into the Panama Papers, revealing that Canada is a tax haven for foreigners looking to hide their money.

– Columns: Paula Simons of the Edmonton Journal.

– Editorial Cartooning: Bruce MacKinnon of the Halifax Chronicle Herald.

– Editorials: Christina Spencer of the Ottawa Citizen.

– Explanatory Work: Kate Allen of the Toronto Star for a story that looked at the effects of climate change not on humans but on other residents of this planet, from bees to shrubs.

– Feature Photo: Olivier Jean of La Presse for a photograph of a beehive being fumigated.

– International Reporting: Isabelle Hachey of La Presse for a series of stories about the war in Syria.

– Investigations: Robyn Doolittle of the Globe and Mail for the “Unfounded” series.

– Local Reporting: Grant LaFleche of the St. Catharines Standard for a series of stories on the impact of child abuse by a Roman Catholic priest.

– Long Feature: Jesse Winter of the Toronto Star for tracing the heartbreaking story of a man, raped as a child by his uncle, who was failed by family, friends, governments and the justice system.

– News Photo: Ian Willms of the Globe and Mail for a photograph of an asylum seeker from Nigeria fleeing to Canada on a cold, dark night.

– Photo Portfolio/Essay: Martin Tremblay of the La Presse for an essay documenting the story of refugees crossing the border shortly after the election of U.S. President Donald Trump left them feeling threatened down south.

– Politics: David Akin and Chris Selley of the National Post for coverage of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s secret visit to a private island owned by the Aga Khan.

– Presentation: Jeremy Agius and Matthew French of the Globe and Mail.

– Project of the Year: Dan Fumano and Matt Robinson of the Vancouver Sun for an investigation into the case of Phillip Tallio, who still maintained his innocence after 34 years of incarceration for the murder of a child.

– Short Feature: Marcus Gee of the Globe and Mail for explaining what the death of a small-city newspaper would really mean for that community.

– Sports: Steve Buist of the Hamilton Spectator for “Collision Course,” a series of stories that explored the impact of concussions on retired Canadian football players.

– Sports Photo: Andrew Francis Wallace of the Toronto Star for a photograph of a rugby player with a badly mangled finger.

All category winners received cheques for $1,000 and a certificate of award. Other finalists received citations of merit. The Journalist of the Year is awarded $2,500.

The National Newspaper Awards are open to daily newspapers, news agencies and online news sites approved for entry by the NNA Board of Governors. There were 63 finalists in 21 categories, selected from 881 entries for work published in 2017.