The Fort Frances Times won top honours in the Best On-Line Edition category of the 2000 Better Newspapers Competition staged by the Ontario Community Newspapers Association.
The award, handed out Saturday night during the OCNA’s spring convention in Toronto, was accepted by Lincoln Dunn of the Times’ Electronic Publishing Division.
“An exciting, dynamic online news and information product,” wrote judge Rob Washburn, professor of New Media Journalism at Loyalist College. “It has a beautiful design, easy to follow and navigate.
“Its greatest strength is the daily news updates, putting it in a category of its own,” he added.
“There is a strong community component, and use of advertising is quite effective with many local businesses involved,” Washburn concluded.
The Times’ Web site is located at www.fftimes.com
News/North took second place, followed by Metroland’s York Region Newspaper Group.
Meanwhile, the Times took third-place honours for Best Feature Photo (a bored-looking boy sitting atop his dad’s shoulders during the bass tournament last July), Original Ad Idea (a back-to-school ad campaign for McTaggarts), and Best In-House Promotion (our “Leap on the Web” promo).
Premier Awards pit newspapers against each other regardless of circulation size.
In terms of General Excellence, which included judging on everything from front page to presentation, photography, and ad content/design, the Times finished eighth overall out of 22 entries from across the province in the 3,500-6,499 circulation class.
Unfortunately, only the top five advance to the national competition later this year.
In related news, Times publisher and co-owner Jim Cumming was sworn in Friday night as OCNA president for the coming term, succeeding Angie Shepherd of the Kanata Kourier-Standard.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
