Yellowknifer takes hardware home
City paper wins top honours in Alberta Weekly Newspaper Awards; former reporter Shane Magee recognized by Canadian Community Newspaper Awards
Northern News Services
Friday, June 9, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknifer is celebrating accolades thanks to the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association's Better Newspapers Competition and the Canadian Community Newspapers Association.
On June 2, Yellowknifer brought home a total of four first-place awards for its circulation size: Best All Around Newspaper, Best Front Page, Best Sports Page and Best Editorial Page.
Now-shuttered Deh Cho weekly newspaper Deh Cho Drum was also recognized with a first-place honour. The paper took home a Best Front Page award for its circulation size of 2,000 through 3,499.
The awards ceremony was held in Calgary.
Earlier this year, former Yellowknifer reporter Shane Magee earned a second-place honour in the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards. He was recognized for Outstanding Reporter Initiative with a story about the unclear fate of a public complaint against an RCMP officer ("Complaint against RCMP in limbo," June 10, 2016).
In January 2015, a woman went to the police station in search of an acquaintance. She was handcuffed and struck in the face and legs, then charged with assault causing bodily harm to the officer. The charge was dropped after the woman's lawyer requested the Crown prosecutor watch security footage of the incident, and the woman went on to file a formal complaint.
More than a year later, Magee reached out to Yellowknife RCMP to see whether this complaint had been resolved.
Yellowknife RCMP directed him to the Lethbridge RCMP, which was in charge of the internal investigation into the incident. Lethbridge said the investigation was concluded but did not say whether charges were recommended. Instead, Magee was directed to the NWT Crown prosecutor's office for more information.
The Crown prosecutor couldn't say whether charges were recommended, or give a clear answer as to who was supposed to recommend charges. A story that should have been simple - the result of a 16-month-old complaint - ended up being a road map through a maze of bureaucracy.
Magee's tenaciousness in his attempt to follow the complaint through this maze is what earned him a national recognition.
Yellowknifer is a member of the Canadian Community Newspapers Association and the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association. Both organizations recognize excellent work published by its member newspapers every spring.
