Thursday, 28 December 2006

Annual Awards

The downturn at the Toronto Sun since the ouster of Doug Creighton in November of 1992 can be measured in more ways than the decline in circulation, staff members and morale.

The awards count is another accurate barometer.

The National Newspaper Awards, the highly coveted and competitive awards open to newspapers across Canada, are the media equivalent of Hollywood's Oscars.

Prior to Doug's ouster, the Toronto Sun collected 17 NNA awards, not including seven honorable mentions, from 1971 through 1992.

Only two NNA awards have been awarded to the Toronto Sun in the 14 years since Doug's ouster. Two!

That speaks volumes about Doug's leadership and the positive, competitive mood at the Sun from 1971 through 1992.

The Sun's NNA winners:

1971: Yardley Jones, editorial cartoon

1972: Peter Worthington, editorial writing

1973: John Robertson, sports writing

1974: George Gross, sports writing

1975: Trent Frayne, sports writing

1976: Andy Donato, cartooning

1979: Peter Worthington, enterprise reporting;
Bill Sandford, news photography

1983: Veronica Milne, feature photography

1986: Michael Peake, spot news photography
Jean Sonmor, sports writing;

1988: Stan Behal, best sports photo

1989: Fred Thornhill, feature photography

1990: Tim McKenna, spot news photography;
Craig Robertson, feature photography

1991: Fred Thornhill, sports photography

1992: Mike Cassese, sports photography

1994: Heather Mallick, critical writing

1995: Patrick McConnell, spot news photography

Other competitive newspaper awards are presented annually by police, fire and community organizations.

In the awards department, you can't count the annual Edward Dunlop Award of Excellence. It is an in-house award for Sun Media newspapers in the name of the late Edward A. Dunlop, the Toronto Sun's first president, who died in 1981.

Sun-related awards presented to a new generation of journalists are among the annual Ryserson awards. Those Ryerson journalism awards include the names of six Toronto Sun editorial trail blazers from the 1970's to the early 1990's.

Recipients of the journalism awards won't put a face to the names on the awards, but Sun vets fondly remember them.

The Ryerson awards:

Del Bell Memorial Award

Douglas Creighton Award

Ben Grant and Paul Heming Copy Editing Award (Sponsored by the Toronto Sun)

Paul Heming Bursary Fund

Ray Smith Award (Sponsored by the Toronto Sun)

Toronto Sun Paul Rimstead Memorial Journalism Award

(To comment, or for awards additions and corrections, e-mail us.)

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