It has been a very good couple of years for the Osoyoos Times.
One year after being selected as the best community newspaper in British Columbia in its circulation category by a group of industry peers, the Osoyoos Times took it a step further this year.
Last Friday, there were a lot of smiles in our office when it was announced that the Osoyoos Times was named the Best Overall Newspaper, General Excellence, in its circulation class at the Canadian Community Newspaper Association (CCNA) awards competition.
We also captured first place in the national competition – which features literally hundreds of community newspapers from coast to coast across Canada – for Best Front Page and Best Editorial Page.
There are a lot of reasons why the Osoyoos Times has gained provincial and national recognition over the past two years, but the biggest reason is the staff who work at the paper are all professional, capable and hard working people who take great pride in what they do.
The current team that includes Associate Publisher/Ad Designer Ronda Jahn, Editor Keith Lacey, Reporter/Photographer Richard McGuire, Sales Representative Ken Baker and Office Administrator Jocelyn Merit all share the credit for making the Osoyoos Times the award-winning publication is has become.
We also have to thank Bob Doull, the president of Aberdeen Publishing, for all of his support since he purchased the Osoyoos Times from longtime owner and president Chris Stodola just over two years ago.
Doull has been very supportive of the staff here at the Osoyoos Times and he was just as thrilled as the employees who work here everyday in sharing the pride we all felt last week when the awards were announced.
We have a great team in place and one that works really hard to produce a quality newspaper each and every week.
It was exceptionally rewarding to win the Ma Murray Award for Best Overall Newspaper in B.C. last year, but claiming the same award at the national level is staggering.
While we bask in the glory of being named the top small town newspaper in Canada, we must never forget that it’s you – our subscribers, advertisers and readers – that are the lifeblood of what we do.
We are all blessed to live in one of the most beautiful and vibrant small towns in the country.
We thank all of our subscribers, readers and advertisers for their loyalty in allowing us to run a successful business and publish a really good community newspaper week after week.
Our only promise moving forward is to continue publishing a fantastic newspaper each and every week.
Hopefully that will mean more awards will be coming our way next year.
