Star snags digital publishing nominations

Series on COVID-19 risks and LTC homes among projects recognized

The Toronto Star has garnered four nominations in the 6th annual Digital Publishing Awards.

Two Star projects were chosen as finalists in the Best News Coverage category: á Crisis in Care: A series of articles by Kenyon Wallace that brought new context to the long-brewing crisis in Ontario’s long-term-care homes that was pushed to the forefront during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. á COVID-19 risk and you: A series of articles by a team of Star reporters, designers and editors that sought to quantify the risk posed by COVID-19 across a variety of sectors and parts of communities, right down to the neighbourhood level.

Team members for the project were Patty Winsa, May Warren, Kenyon Wallace, Cameron Tulk and Ed Tubb.

In the Best Service Feature category, the project Pandemic Academics was selected as a finalist.

It serves as a readers’ guide to the rules and expert advice on approaching the start of a school year unlike any other in Ontario history.

Patty Winsa, Kenyon Wallace, Andres Plana and Nathan Pilla were behind this public service piece.

For Best Digital Design, The Uncounted: a six-part series on the plight of individuals affected by occupational diseases snagged a nomination.

The Star’s Nathan Pilla, McKenna Deighton, Andres Plana and Tania Pereira worked on the digital design elements of the project.

“These nominated pieces show the kind of collaborative teamwork that leads to the most engaging visual storytelling, with reporters and digital designers working side by side to create the best work,” said Anne Marie Owens, editor of the Star.

There are 165 finalists in the Digital Publishing Awards, organized by the National Media Awards Foundation. Some 163 publications across Canada participated in the 2020 competition. Winners will be announced June 11.

Meanwhile, two Torstar reporters have won the Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prize for Young Canadian Journalists. The prize is awarded by News Media Canada, an association of print and digital news outlets in the country, for outstanding work published in daily newspapers by young Canadian journalists aged 20 to 25.

Victoria Gibson, who covers affordable housing for the Toronto Star, won in the large market category. This is her second Goff Penny Award, having also won for her work in 2018.

Kawartha Lakes This Week reporter Marissa Lentz won the same honour in the small market category for her work published in the Peterborough Examiner.