North Simcoe Springwater News Awarded National Recognition
This local newspaper is no local rag! It has come a long way since the early days of The Lance or “The Glance” as it is fondly referred to. The community really won this award, not me.
I applied for a scholarship to the ISWNE (International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors) Conference in South Dakota and won the award. There were two ISWNE journalists from Canada and one from USA that narrowed the selection down to me, Linda Belcourt, Editor.
So say I was shocked, would be an understatement.
I asked Gordon Cameron, Executive Director of Ontario Newspaper Canadian Association, that was a judge for this competition why I was chosen? I made reference that I thought maybe no one else applied. Gordon just laughed and replied, “There were three reasons. One, every time I talk to you, there has been an improvement in your paper and then you tell me what improvement you are working on next. Two, your obvious passion for the community and your dedication to your newspaper and three, I knew with your outgoing personality that you would fit into this group very well. You are definitely not a wall flower and you add relevant comments to the Ontario Community Newspaper Association Conference sessions that bring value to the group.”
The editors that I met from award winning newspapers are very successful industry leaders. They were the most friendly bunch of people I have ever met. The confidence in myself grew every hour of this five day conference.
I attended an editorial critique session. The panel consisted of four highly regarded journalists. Dana Hess, professor of journalism that spent more than 25 years in South Dakota and is a Golden Quill judge.
He told me I had a “really good paper” with incredible community involvement but I had to increase my editorial content to inform people of the real issues. He said that I have a strong voice and I should use it. So I will.
There were other housekeeping issues like using headers and to get better organized with your content. So I will.
The most interesting thing he mentioned was that he was astonished by the community involvement. Dana Hess asked, “How the heck do you get community members to write for you? You must be doing something very well.”
I explained that our community is very tight and they love this paper. I told him I get daily phone calls from people telling me how much they love the paper and appreciate that they still have one.
When you have a community such as ours with many families going back three to five generations, it builds a deep caring environment. Telling our local stories is a big part of keeping our community’s interests front and center.
“And that’s the way it is.” Quote by Walter Cronkite
