Eastern Door reporter sets record

Kahnawake’s vibrant local news scene is once again being recognized by others in the media world, with The Eastern Door racking up the most nominations for this year’s Quebec Community Newspaper Association (QCNA) awards.

“I’m really proud of my staff and how hard they work,” said TED’s editor/publisher Steve Bonspiel. “The team we’ve assembled of reporters, admin support, ad salespeople, management, and everyone in between, I think that’s what makes us successful.”

TED has the most nominations of any newspaper this year, with 20 nominations in total on the shortlist, which was revealed this week.

Those shortlisted entries span 13 individual categories, as well as nominations for the paper overall for Best Front Page, Best Feature Page, Best Sports Pages, and Best Special Section.

“I’m grateful to the community that supports us in every which way, whether that’s buying an ad, reading our stories, buying a newspaper, and everything else that goes along with being a supportive community,” Bonspiel said.

TED’s managing editor Marcus Bankuti is leading the way with a QCNA record nine writing nominations - more than Bonspiel has ever seen an individual receive during his many years of being involved with the QCNA.

“I never thought that would be possible. It’s just incredible, and historic,” Bonspiel said.

Bankuti is nominated for Best News Story, Best Feature Series, Best Sports Story, Best Business Column or Feature, Best Education Story, Best Environmental Story, Best Municipal/Civic Affairs Story, the Bob Phillips Award for Best Editorial, and Best Investigative Reporting, for which he is jointly nominated along with Bonspiel.

Bonspiel is additionally nominated for the Jim Bell Award for Best Editorial (local affairs) and the Bob Phillips Award for Best Editorial (general).

TED’s lead reporter Eve Cable, who won the Paul Dumont-Frenette Outstanding Journalism Award for journalist of the year at last year’s gala - is also nominated for Best News Story, as well as for Best Agricultural Story and Best Community Health Story, and TED reporter Miriam Lafontaine is also nominated for Best Business Column or Feature.

Sharing Our Stories’ program manager Aaron McComber is also recognized for writing he undertook for TED, with a nomination in the Best Arts and Entertainment Story category.

“It shows the kind of work that we’re producing, so we’re very, very happy about that,” Bonspiel said.

Fellow local newspaper Iorì:wase also secured a nomination, with Greg Horn nominated in the Best Feature Photo category.

A total of 545 entries were submitted to this year’s awards, which were evaluated by a panel of 27 judges.

The winners will be announced at an awards gala in Montebello this June - including the winner of the title of Best Overall Newspaper - and the individual who wins the most writing awards will take home the Paul Dumont-Frenette Outstanding Journalism Award, colloquially known as Journalist of the Year.