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Black Press staff nominated for Webster journalism award

Sewage in the CRD series gains provincial recognition

A team of journalists with Black Press community newspapers in Greater Victoria have been recognized for their work on the Sewage in the CRD series, published in March and April of this year.

The multi-media package of stories, illustrations and video was published by the Goldstream News Gazette, Saanich News, Victoria News, Oak Bay News, Peninsula News Review and Sooke News Mirror, was announced this week as one of three finalists in the community reporting category of the Jack Webster B.C. journalism awards.

Team leader and Gazette editor Don Descoteau, Saanich News editor Dan Ebenal, Victoria News editor Pamela Roth, plus Black Press photojournalists Arnold Lim and Don Denton and graphic designer Lily Chan, combined to provide readers with a comprehensive package that touched on various aspects of the sewage treatment issue in the Capital Regional District.

“Our editorial team was dedicated to this story and spent over a month researching and interviewing subjects to get it right. It was very important to us to present the information in an easy to understand, well designed package so readers clearly understood the key points in this complicated issue,” said Black Press Greater Victoria group publisher Penny Sakamoto.

“From reader responses, we found the series broadened the conversation and prompted more questions from the public about how their money was being spent and what options the CRD had moving forward. Our series on sewage captured the attention of taxpayers on all sides of this issue.”

Covering everything from how did we get here and who are the players, to what has been done elsewhere and what’s next, the series brought many new readers into the fold and helped them better understand the issues as the CRD attempted to find agreement on a site and technology for the government-mandated program.

The Webster awards will be handed out Oct. 20 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver.

editor@goldstreamgazette.com