We are bursting with pride here at The Confederate this week.
In fact, we’re out and out patting ourselves on the backs after a very successful weekend during which your hometown newspaper picked up a number of awards. It’s always nice to be acknowledged by your peers for the work you do.
The Metroland Editorial Excellence Awards, the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Awards and the Canadian Community Newspapers Association Better Newspapers Competition Awards were all handed out this past weekend.
Confederate Reporter Chris Clark picked up two awards for a photograph he took at the Holstein Rodeo last summer. We knew “Wrestling Match”, a photo of Durham’s Ryan Atchison taking part in the steer-wrestling event at the Holstein Rodeo, was a winner as soon as we saw it. That’s why it appeared on the front page of the July 15 issue of The Confederate.
 “Clearly the best of the sports photos submitted” said the Metroland Media Group judge in awarding it top sports photo. The award is given “in recognition of the photographer who captures the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the graceful ballet of athletes in motion” and its not the first time The Confederate has won.
Mr. Clark received the award Friday afternoon at a reception hosted by Metroland President Ian Oliver at The Star building in downtown Toronto.
The same photo won a premier award in photography for Mr. Clark at the Ontario Community Newspapers Association gala awards dinner that evening. It was up for the honor of being best sports photo published in newspapers of any size across the province.
 “This photo has the right elements to make it the 2009 sports photography winner,” wrote the judge. “Not only does the photographer demonstrate the requisite technical competency and technique required for an effective sports photograph, just as importantly the moment is perfectly timed. The viewer “is immediately struck by the cowboy’s precarious position – one arm around the calf while being simultaneously pulled away by his horse. He is not in full control and his expressions shows it. There is humor in the situation but also apprehension of a possible bad outcome. It’s such uncertainty that draws us to sports. We enjoy the thrill of athletic success but also the potential for disaster.”
Mr. Clark’s “Wrestling Match” photo was declared the winner from dozens of photographs from newspapers across the province, big and small. In fact a photo, which appeared in The Brampton Guardian, was awarded second place in the category.
Also on Friday evening, the Confederate won third place in Ontario for best creative advertising in a newspaper with a circulation of under 9,999.
The award was for a series of advertisements created by Cornelia Svela for Plume’s Color Your World which appeared in The Confederate last January, including “The Boss is Away January Sale”. The ads were sold on a theme proposed by Sales Consultant Sharon Wilson.
The judge, a professor and program coordinator for the advertising program at Mohawk College in Hamilton, said the advertisements “personalized the experience. You would want to meet these people in the store.”
Mr. Clark attended both awards ceremonies on Friday, along with Confederate General Manager and Editor Lynne Turner, and both Ms. Svela and Ms. Wilson joined them at the awards dinner Friday evening.
Last Thursday evening, when newspapers across Canada were honored at the Better Newspapers Competition, The Confederate won second place for “Best Front Page” for newspapers with a circulation between 2000 and 2999. The Confederate was also awarded a Blue Ribbon “given to any newspaper in the national competition that deserves recognition for excellence.”
A very dedicated and professional team brings the Confederate to you each and every week. While Chris Clark, Cornelia Svela and Sharon Wilson were individually recognized on the weekend, along with General Manager and Editor Lynne Turner, we must not forget the other staff members who work day in and day out to help make the newspaper what it is. Dianne Hatch, Cathy Higdon, Kim Lucas and Cheryl Williamson are key members of the Confederate team who, along with our contributors and correspondents, bring this once again award-winning paper to you each week.
Yes, we are bursting with pride here at The Confederate this week.