The North Delta Reporter has earned its place as one of the best newspapers in B.C.
North Delta’s community newspaper earned a silver for Newspaper Excellence in its circulation category at the annual Ma Murray Awards on Saturday night. It finished just behind the Parksville/Qualicum Beach News and ahead of the Coast Reporter.
The awards are presented by the British Columbia & Yukon Community News Media Association to recognize the best work produced by its more than 90 member newspapers each year.
The 2024 awards, recognizing the top work published in 2023, were held at the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver on April 20.
Along with the North Delta Reporter’s silver, Black Press Media’s Surrey bureau claimed six other awards.
Four of those went to Peace Arch News.
The White Rock-South Surrey paper earned a silver for Newspaper Excellence in its circulation category, just behind the Chilliwack Progress and ahead of the Comox Valley Record.
PAN reporter Tricia Weel was a double winner.
She earned a gold in the John Collison Memorial Award for Investigative Journalism for a story examining transportation challenges facing wheelchair users, “Wheelchair users ‘robbed of special moments.’”
Weel also earned bronze in the Neville Shanks Memorial Award for Historical Writing for her piece “A frontline hero,” chronicling the story of her maternal great-grandfather, Arthur Wigglesworth, who was killed in action near Vimy, France during the First World War.
Former editor Brenda Anderson captured gold for editorial writing with her piece “Bureaucracy run amok.”
The Surrey Now-Leader earned bronze for Newspaper Excellence in its circulation category, behind the Nanaimo News Bulletin and North Shore News.
The Now-Leader also captured bronze for Special Publications for its 2023 economic development magazine, Surrey: An Economic Powerhouse (produced by Dal Hothi, Dwayne Weidendorf and Beau Simpson).