WCR named top regional newspaper

For the fourth time in five years, the WCR won the award for general excellence among regional newspapers from the Canadian Church Press.

The WCR also won two second place awards for its coverage of the World Youth Day Pilgrim Cross to Alberta last fall.

Reporters Ramon Gonzalez and Renato Gandia received an honourable mention for their extensive news coverage of the Pilgrim Cross. And WCR editor Glen Argan won an honourable mention in the feature layout and design category.

The WCR has won either the first or second place award in the general excellence category seven times in the eight years it has entered the CCP competition.

The judges described the WCR as being "well written, . . . emphasis on local coverage, . . . strong photos on front page, . . . attractive, uncluttered, easy to read."

The judges said the reporters' coverage of the visit of the Pilgrim Cross "focuses on the people taking part (and) lets them speak in their own voice."

And they said the layout of the Pilgrim Cross coverage had "lots of energy (with) bold photo display and use of colour."

Receiving honourable mentions for general excellence among regional Church newspapers was The B.C. Catholic and Crosstalk, the newspaper of the Anglican diocese of Ottawa.

Other major winners announced at the annual CCP conference held in Ottawa May 8-10 were:

• General excellence for a national newspaper: ChristianWeek of Winnipeg.
• General excellence for denominational and interdenominational magazines: United Church Observer of Toronto.
• General excellence for specialized magazines: Scarboro Missions of Toronto.

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