Great job, Ontario Newspaper Awards winners!

What a winning bunch our members are.

Unifor 87-M is very proud of all of our members who picked up Ontario Newspaper Awards over the weekend.

The Hamilton Spectator cleaned up at the gala event held Saturday, April 29 at the Sheraton Hotel in Hamilton, picking up a dozen awards that night.

The Spec’s winners include Joanna Frketich, who won both the Martha Blackburn Award for Journalist of the Year and the award for education reporting, and photographer Barry Gray, who received the Richard Sutton Award for Photojournalist of the Year. The Spec also picked up awards in categories including lifestyle, business, humour, general news feature, municipal affairs and multimedia.

London Free Press journalists picked up five awards for spot news reporting, novice reporting, feature writing, environmental news and online video production.

Other winners represented by Unifor 87-M include the The Niagara Falls Review, which picked up two awards, and the Belleville Intelligencer, Owen Sound Sun Times, St. Catharines Standard and Brantford Expositor, which picked up an award each. The Guelph Mercury, now closed, also picked up a design award.

The ONAs are handed out every year to recognize the very best in newspaper journalism. The awards are open to newspapers outside of Toronto, and the ceremony is held every spring.