The Tri-City News is one of the top community publications in British Columbia, according to a B.C. based newspaper organization.
The News is a finalist for a general excellence Ma Murray award in the largest circulation category of the BC and Yukon Community NewsMedia Association (BCYCNA). It’s up against the Surrey Now-Leader and the North Shore News.
Winners will be announced in April.
As well, digital journalist Stefan Labbé is a finalist for three individual awards and he and photographer/reporter Mario Bartel are finalists for a multimedia feature story award for their Year in Pictures review of 2020.
Labbé is nominated for an environmental writing award for a story about the 2020 Christmas bird count. He’s also a finalist for a feature photo in the over-10,000 circulation for a photo of an elderly couple spending time together through the window of a seniors residence while the facility was in lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for a spot news photo of classmates mourning the loss of their friend who perished last January — along with his family — in the crash of a Ukrainian Airlines jetliner that was shot from the sky by a missile.
The BCYCNA represents 93 newspapers across the province and in the Yukon that reach almost two million readers. Its annual excellence awards are named for the late Margaret “Ma” Murray, a pioneer in the newspaper industry in B.C. who homesteaded with her husband, George, in a home they built in Anmore in 1916. The home was demolished in 2018, despite attempts by local heritage advocates to save it.
