The Salmon Arm Observer and a number of its staff are being recognized for professional excellence.
In the Canadian Community Newspaper Association awards, reporter Martha Wickett has been nominated in the Best News Story, circulation up to 3,999 category, for her article, Device Gets Young People to Buzz Off.
The story told of city staff’s installation of a mosquito device downtown, a device that emits high-frequency sounds that had been set so it could be heard only by people under 25 years. The device was intended to curb vandalism. Following the article, city council, which hadn’t been aware of the installation, had staff raise the frequency so the device became an all-ages deterrent.
Both the Observer and our sister paper the Eagle Valley News in Sicamous were awarded blue ribbons for excellence in their respective circulation categories.
In the British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspaper Association awards, the Observer has been named as one of three finalists for the best newspaper in its circulation class. The Observer is competing against the Gulf Islands Driftwood and the Squamish Chief for the gold award.
Observer photographers have also swept all three positions in the feature photo category for papers under 25,000 circulation — now it is just a matter of who takes first, second and third.
James Murray has been nominated for two photos: One is a shot of a bird in flight around nature photographer Roy Hancliff; the other is a shot of a woman sharing a sandwich with her dog.
Lachlan Labere was nominated for a photo entitled, “True Inspiration,” which showed motivational speaker Spencer West speaking to students at Eagle River Secondary.