The Gulf Islands Driftwood was honoured with four top-three awards in a “post-Covid” edition of the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards (CCNA).
The usual national CCNA competitions were not held in 2020 and 2021, but organizing body News Media Canada invited entries for those two years in a fall 2022 event.
Driftwood awards announced Nov. 14 were:
• 1st place for Best Special Section (2020) among entries from papers with a circulation up to 9,999, for the Best of Salt Spring Island 2020;
• 1st place for Best Local Cartoon (2021) among entries from papers with a circulation up to 9,999, for Dennis Parker’s Help Wanted cartoon in the Aug. 18, 2021 Driftwood;
• 2nd place for Best Local Editorial (2021) among entries from papers with a circulation up to 9,999, for Gail Sjuberg’s Stick to the Topic editorial in the Dec. 1, 2021 Driftwood;
• 3rd place for Best Editorial Page (2021) among papers with a circulation from 1,500 to 6,499, for two papers submitted: Feb. 17 and Oct. 13, 2021.
Earlier this year the Driftwood won best overall B.C. newspaper for 2021 in the 3,001 to 4,500 circulation category in the Ma Murray Awards of the B.C. and Yukon Community NewsMedia Association, and third place for community service for its Let’s Pick it Up, Salt Spring campaign.