NNSL (Apr 21/97) - The North did well at the recent Ontario Community Newspaper Awards held in Toronto with 145 community newspapers participating.

Among the four awards going to News/North was the best newspaper in its class while Nunatsiaq News won two awards, one for best editorial and the other for second place in best color tabloid front page.

News/North also won first place in the best sports and recreation story category for coverage of the 1996 Arctic Winter Games in Eagle River, Alaska.

Other awards for News/North include third-best tabloid black and white front page and third-best special section for Opportunities North '96, an annual report on business and employment opportunities across the North.

Meanwhile, News/North's sister publication, Kivalliq News, based in Rankin Inlet, recently struck gold at the Manitoba Community Newspaper Association's better newspaper competition.

It was judged best newspaper in its class and placed first for best typography.

Former Kivalliq News editor Marty Brown took first place for best news story of the year for an article she wrote on a young boy dying from a respiratory disease.

A photograph of Rankin Inlet youth taken by current Kivalliq News editor Jeff Colbourne took first place in the feature photo category.

Earlier this year at the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association's better newspaper competition, News/North's sister newspaper Yellowknifer won second place in the Blue Flame feature photography category for a photo called Splashing in the Streets.

And Yellowknifer won second place for news story of the year awarded by the Canadian Community Newspaper Association's 1996 better newspaper competition.