Northern News Services
Friday, April 30, 2007

IQALUIT - Former Nunavut commissioner Peter Irniq and Nunavut News/North arts editor Adam Johnson have won top prizes from the Ontario Community Newspapers Association.

Irniq, who writes a column about traditional life in the territory, was named columnist of the year.

"Each column is, as Aristotle says, a perfect whole," wrote judge Michael Cullen, an English teacher at the University of Victoria in B.C. "The narratives are immediate and compelling.

"The columns are a strong, obvious voice for the community ñ alive, vibrant, humorous, political and social."

Johnson won first in the arts and entertainment category for his coverage of the cancellation of a tour of Igloolik Isuma Productions' The Journals of Knud Rasmussen.

"The reader is forced to think about the implications of the story on filmmaking and viewing in Nunavut and their financial and cultural impact," wrote the judge.

A story by Kent Driscoll about Nunavut Sivuniksavut's Save the Baby Veal protest of the anti-seal hunting campaign from last spring won second place as Best Rural Story.

The judge called it "an excellent piece of reporting."

"Humour is at the heart of the Inuit campaign ... and the story makes use of humour to report on the campaign, from the title to quoting 'Sir Tommy Akulukjuk' who wanted to be called 'sir' in the article to be on equal footing with anti-seal-hunt campaigner Sir Paul McCartney."

Also finishing second was an editorial critical of the territorial government's defence against a lawsuit filed by victims of pedophile Ed Horne. Titled Monstrous defence, the editorial "was a no-holds-barred, no-punches-pulled, fearless piece of work," according to the judge.

A NorthMart ad designed by Nunavut News/North's production department won second for use of spot colour. "Instead of feeling overwhelmingly busy, it is an inviting piece of communication," wrote the judge.

An ad that appeared in Nunavut News/North's sister paper in the NWT won third place for best use of process colour.

Opportunities North, a Northern News Services publication distributed in Nunavut, won first place in the Special Section category for NWT News/North.