Yellowknife (Apr 17/06) - News stories about bison in Fort Resolution and global warming in 50 years took two of seven awards won by NWT News/North at the Ontario Community Newspaper Association annual convention.

NWT News/North also placed first overall in General Excellence in its circulation category.

"A unique paper for a unique situation, News/North does a good job of covering a vast circulation area," the journalism judges wrote. "It has a nice mix of news, features and photography in a well designed package."

The provincial newspaper association met in Toronto April 1, to honour the best work of more than 270 members. NWT News/North is a member of the association as there is no similar Northern organization.

A package of stories on climate change won first for Best Environmental Story. South Slave Bureau Chief Paul Bickford and former Beaufort-Delta bureau chief Chris Hunsley, "went that all important extra mile," wrote journalism judge Jamie Baker, an investigative reporter with St. John's The Telegram, one of Atlantic Canada's largest daily newspapers.

Stories on the Hook Lake bison herd written by Jack Danylchuk and Paul Bickford won first in Best Rural and Agricultural Story.

"Danylchuk captured the complexity - both politically and scientifically - of dealing with the diminishing Hook Lake herd and its losing battle with bovine tuberculosis," wrote judge David Nickle, senior political reporter with Metroland's Toronto Community News Division.

"The paper followed the story with equally strong news and feature coverage from Bickford."

NWT News/North's former Deh Cho bureau chief Derek Neary won second place Best News Story with his report on two men feared drowned on the North Nahanni River.

Opportunities North 2005, a special Northern industry report distributed in NWT News/North each year, won second place for Best Special Section.

NWT News/North also captured two third place finishes, one for the NWT News/North online edition and the advertising department won for Best Use of Process Color in a full page ad on the Midway Lake Music festival.

"We are up against the best newspapers in the country," said NWT News/North managing editor Bruce Valpy. "To win there means Northern journalism and advertising design are of the highest quality."

Sister newspaper - Nunavut News North - won best news story for a story about a plane load of Kitikmeot residents who arrived in Iqaluit for dental work, only to find the real pain was no one to meet them.

"Reporter Kent Driscoll took what could easily have been cast aside as a complaint story and turned it into an inside look at a crisis in the backlog of Nunavut residents requiring dental surgery," wrote judge Joanne Burghardt, editor-in-chief of Metroland's Durham Region Media Group.