'Citizen' to be honoured provincially again

The Citizen has been shortlisted for two 2025 Ontario Community Newspapers Association (OCNA) Better Newspapers Competition Awards while also receiving two honourable mentions.

 

Reporter Scott Stephenson has been nominated (meaning he will finish in first, second or third place when the winners are announced in Collingwood this April) for best Sports and Recreation Story and as Humour Columnist of the Year. 

 

Stephenson’s story on the grandfather-grandson refereeing team of Allan Dickson and Max Staines, published in November of 2024, was the one that caught the judges’ attention for Best Sports and Recreation Story. As for his Humour Columnist of the Year nod, it comes from a sampling of his dispatches from The Chaff on page five every week, spanning from late 2024 into late 2025. 

 

Loughlin received an honourable mention for Best Spot News Photo of the Year and Best News Photo of the Year for photographs of the dramatic removal of the water tower near Blyth’s Greenway Trail in May of 2025 and the on-stage proposal at the end of a production of the Blyth Festival’s The Wind Coming Over The Sea in August of 2025.

 

The winners will be announced at this year’s Better Newspapers Competition awards night and Hall of Fame gala scheduled for Friday, April 24 in Collingwood.