Yellowknife (Apr 25/05) - NWT News/North was named the best newspaper in its circulation class by the Ontario Community Newspapers Association.

The award for general excellence was one of three first-place prizes for the paper, and among 10 total awards for Northern News Services publications at the recent Better Newspapers Competition.

NWT News/North was named best newspaper in its circulation class, and also won first for best news story and business writing at the recent Better Newspapers Competition sponsored by the Ontario Community Newspapers Association.

"(NWT News/North has) a good mix of small and big stories all with interest across a widespread community," said judge John McKinley, editor of the Cowichan News Leader/Pictorial in Duncan, B.C. "The big headlines and photos were very good and the paper was solid or better in all categories."

General excellence scores papers for community news, photography, ad content and design, classified advertising, sports and other elements.

Andrew Raven and Jack Danylchuk won best news story for their work detailing where former MLA Roger Allen lived.

"Tenacity in their investigation and a willingness to ask tough questions paid off in this well-written series of clear importance to the community," wrote judge Terri Arnott, journalism instructor at Humber College in Ontario.

Business writer Stephan Burnett and Danylchuk won first place for best business and finance writing. They collaborated on a two-page special report on the NWT Business Credit Corporation.

"Reading between the lines, the legwork on this story is clearly visible," said judge Carey French, a long-time reporter and business news editor for the Globe and Mail who now teachers journalism at Humber College.

NWT News/North also won second-place plaques for local retail ad layout, use of spot colour, and in-house promotion. The retail award was for an ad created for Yellowknife Chrysler, while spot colour prize went to an ad for Kingland Ford.

Nunavut News/North won prizes for advertising excellence and cartoon of the year.

Nunavut News' ad for NorthMart's "Gigantic Home Show" won first place for use of spot colour, and a "Trades Training" ad designed for Nunavut Arctic College won second for use of full colour.

Judge Darryl Knutson, publisher of Ponoka News in Alberta, called the NorthMart ad "appealing to the eye with good usage of bold and screened spot colour."

As well, Norm Muffitt won cartoon of the year for his work in Nunavut News, a piece depicting a lone picketer calling a caribou a "scab" during a national parks strike in 2004.

He finished third in the same category for a cartoon published in NWT News/ North.