Eastern Door reclaims best overall title
The Eastern Door’s managing editor Marcus Bankuti was nominated for nine individual writing awards at this year’s Quebec Community Newspapers Association awards ceremony, winning six times. He also received the Paul Dumont-Frenette Award for journalist of the year. Courtesy Quebec Community Newspapers Association
It was a big night for The Eastern Door at the 45th Quebec Community Newspapers Association (QCNA) annual awards gala over the weekend.
For the first time since 2017, The Eastern Door has won Best Overall Newspaper, sharing the honour in a three-way tie with The Suburban and Nunatsiaq News.
Meanwhile, managing editor Marcus Bankuti set a QCNA record with nine nominations, taking home six first-place prizes and securing the Paul Dumont-Frenette Outstanding Journalism award for journalist of the year in the process.
TED’s publisher Steve Bonspiel was proud of everyone involved for the accomplishment of winning Best Overall.
“The team proved that The Eastern Door is easily one of the best in Quebec. We’re doing good journalism, and it’s because our reporters care, it’s because they listen, because they chase stories. They get excited about stories and chase stories that are important to the community,” said Bonspiel.
The Eastern Door received 20 nominations for this year’s Quebec Community Newspapers Association awards ceremony, and finished in a three-way tie for Best Overall Newspaper. Courtesy Quebec Community Newspapers Association
Bankuti said that everyone at The Eastern Door coming together and putting in the work is what makes the publication what it is.
“It’s tremendously gratifying for The Eastern Door to be recognized in this way. I’m so proud of the journalists and the team at TED who go above and beyond every day and every week to do our best to put out a meaningful newspaper,” said Bankuti.
“We couldn’t do what we do without the trust and courage of the people we speak to every week. It’s a privilege to be trusted with their stories.”
Bankuti’s win marks the fourth straight year of TED journalists taking home the top individual honour.
“I’m just one in a long line of TED journalists who have won this prize,” said Bankuti. “The newspaper’s overall success shows the amount of talent that we have on the team. I’m very grateful to be a part of it.”
Bonspiel was the recipient of the award in 2022 and 2023, while Eve Cable co-won the award in 2024.
Bonspiel shared words of support for Bankuti in the QCNA awards book.
“The work he puts in every day, as a writer, managing editor, and key piece of a vibrant, supportive team, is admirable,” wrote Bonspiel.
“Simply put, he’s bought into this thing we call journalism for all the right reasons, and he’s a community reporter through and through.”
Bankuti’s six individual wins were for Best Sports Story, Best Environmental Story, Best Business Column or Feature, Best Feature Series, the Bob Phillips Award for Best Editorial (General), and co-winning Best Investigative Reporting with Bonspiel.
“Six first-place prizes blew away any hopes or expectations I could have had, and I feel very lucky,” said Bankuti.
Bonspiel won an individual award as well, taking home the Jim Bell Award for Best Editorial (Local Affairs) for his editorial Where is the real transparency? which was published on September 20.
“(The editorial) speaks from the heart of the newspaper’s passionate relationship with its community,” wrote George Brown, the judge for this award.
Sharing our Stories’ program manager Aaron McComber won for Best Arts and Entertainment story for his review of Marvel’s animated series What If…? that introduced the Mohawk superhero Kahhori.
“I am so happy for Aaron. He stepped outside of his role to write a piece that he really cared about and what it meant to him certainly jumped off the page in that piece. I’m not at all surprised that he won for his review,” said Bankuti.
“It was easy for me to write because I was such a fan of what I was doing. It hit all the bases for me. It was nerdy enough,” said McComber.
While McComber has been writing for a long time, mainly creatively, this was his first published article, which made winning all the more special.
“I’ve come a long way,” he said.
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The Eastern Door’s lead reporter Eve Cable took home second place for Best Agricultural Story, Best News Story, and Best Community Health Story.
Former Eastern Door reporter Miriam Lafontaine also placed third in the Best Business Column or Feature category.
The newspaper also won an overall prize for Best Sports Pages, coming second in Best Front Page and Best Feature Page and third in Best Special Section.
