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BNC Premier Award Categories:

Jump to: Writing Categories | Advertising Categories | Special Section Categories

Writing Categories

Judged on:
Overall Impact (15 pts), Quality of Content (15 pts), Style (10 pts), Originality (10 pts) – TOTAL 50 pts

  1. Best Agriculture Story
    This award recognizes excellence in writing by an individual journalist, dealing with a community-oriented agricultural issue. An entry will consist of a single news or feature story that focuses on issues facing agriculture in general, or an agricultural story specific to the newspaper’s coverage area.
  2. Best Arts and Culture Story
    The entry should increase the reader’s interest in, appreciation of, or participation in activities related to culture and the arts.The story may be on an individual organization, product, activities or experiences that are having an impact in the  region.
  3. Best Columnist
    Entries will be from those who write a general interest column on a regular basis. Entries should be lively, original, tight and grammatical. They should show some courage regarding local issues. Submit any two columns from the 12-month period ending December 31, 2021
  4. Best Column or Feature Article on a Business Topic
    Entries will be from those who write a general interest column on a regular basis. Entries should be lively, original, tight and grammatical. They should show some courage regarding local issues. Relevance to local economy, and/or demonstrates that a national issue has an impact on the local economy.
  5. Best Education Story
    It is not the intention of this award to show any group involved in the education system in a “good” light, but to place the facts that are worthy of note before the public. This entry will be judged on its ability to increase awareness and communicate thought provoking, worthwhile ideas that are related to the school system in the respected coverage area.
  6. Best Editorial
    The purpose of the editorial should be to provoke and stimulate thought. It should also initiate more writing in the community papers on local and regional subjects. The intent of this award is to recognize excellence in dealing editorially with issues that are of purely local or regional interest. Entries should be stimulating, well researched, clearly stated expressions of opinion on topics of local importance.
    For the purpose of this competition “editorial” is defined as an opinion piece written by editorial staff or publisher of a newspaper. Editorials often reflect the opinion of the periodical on issues that the writer(s) feel are important for their readership to know the newspaper’s opinion.
  7. Best Environmental Story
    This award recognizes the news, features, and editorials which best deal with environmental subjects having impact upon the communities served. It is simply to create an awareness of environmental matters among the respective readerships of each member newspaper.
  8. Best Feature Story
    Each newspaper entering this category must select one story published in one edition about one specific subject of local interest. A feature story is a special human interest story or article that is not closely tied to a recent news event. It goes into great detail regarding concepts and ideas of specific market interest. The story must be of local interest.
  9. Best First Nations Coverage
    The story may be on individuals, special events, history, culture, spirituality, business ventures or contemporary issues. Submissions will be evaluated primarily on their capacity to enhance the public understanding and awareness of First Nation people and their issues.
  10. Best Habitat Conservation Story
    Stories must provide environmentally-focused information and provoke discussion related to: wetlands and their associated upland habitats, water and watershed management, water quality and quantity issues relating to habitat conservation, agricultural crops and practices that contribute to habitat conservation, native grassland conservation and management, research leading to better conservation practices, individuals and organizations contributing to wetlands and associated habitat conservation, wildlife habitat conservation, conservation education.
  11. Best Health Story
    This award will recognize stories related to health matters (including topics as current health trends, proactive health care, preventative medicine, hospital funding, medical research, etc.).
  12. Best Historical Story
    An entry will consist of one story dealing with local history. Article must be written in the competition year.
  13. Best News Story
    An entry will consist of a story offering comprehensive reporting for an important news event in the newspapers’ local and district coverage area.
  14. Best Sports Story
    The story may be on individuals, teams, systems, products, innovations or history.Any story on any single sport subject is eligible. For the purpose of this competition “sports” will be defined as a physical activity involving disciplined use of muscle groups requiring mental preparations and strategic method and whose outcome is determined by skill, not chance. It occurs in an organized, structured and competitive environment in which a winner is declared.
  15. Best Tourism Story
    An entry will consist of one story dealing with local tourism. This entry should record community-wide interest in an event. The story may be on individuals, organizations, products, events, attractions, innovations, destinations or history.
  16. Better Communities Story of the Year
    This award recognizes the best story with a focus on outstanding local leadership and citizenship, volunteerism and/or non-profit efforts deemed innovative or of overall benefit to community living.
  17. Reporter of the Year
    A reporter who consistently shows a high degree of quality in their writing, and is willing to go beyond the average to get the in-depth story. Judging will be based on local relevance, quality of writing and depth of research, sourced from a variety of topics. Entries must consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of five articles. Work submitted to other premier categories may also be submitted to this category. Writer must be an employee of a member newspaper. Only one entry allowed per individual.

Advertising Categories

Judged on:
Advertising Design (25 pts), Layout/Design (25 pts), Idea (25 pts), Impact (25 pts) – TOTAL 100 pts

  1. Best In-House Ad
    An advertisement promoting your own member newspaper. Design and copy writing must be work of a newspaper staff member.
  2. Best Advertisement
    Any ad produced and designed by a newspaper’s staff.

Special Section Categories:

Judged on:
Quality of Written Content (25 pts), Layout/Design (25 pts), Quality of Photo Content (15 pts), Originality (20 pts), Local Advertising Content (15) – TOTAL 100 pts

  1. Best Christmas Edition
    An entry will consist of one complete copy of any special issue published to commemorate the Christmas holiday season. In cases where a separate Christmas section was published, both the main section and the Christmas section must be submitted.
  2. Best Agriculture Section
    Each newspaper entering this category must select a special section which is a stand-alone piece not produced regularly by the newspaper specific to the field of agriculture. Judging will be based on the creativity, impact of the section, local editorial content, advertising design, layout and typography.
  3. Best Special Section
    Each newspaper entering this category must select a special section which is a stand-alone piece not produced regularly by the newspaper. Judging will be based on the originality of the idea, creativity, impact of the section, local editorial content relative to the idea, advertising design, layout and typography.