We’re going to need a larger trophy case at the Osoyoos Times office here on Main Street.

For the third year in a row, the Osoyoos Times has taken home some significant hardware from either the Ma Murray Newspaper Awards or the Canadian Community Newspaper Association (CCNA) awards competitions.

The 2016 Ma Murray Awards, which honours newspaper excellence for community newspapers that belong to the British Columbia-Yukon Community Newspaper Association (BCYNA), were held this past Saturday at the River Rock Casino in Richmond.

The Osoyoos Times took home the first place trophy for Best Feature Article (under 25,000 circulation) for a series of articles that appeared last August relating to the myriad of wildfires that had broken out across Osoyoos, Oliver and the surrounding region.

Editor Keith Lacey and reporter/photographer Richard McGuire shared this award for their comprehensive coverage of the wildfires that caused so much damage and heartache to so many last August.

A photograph McGuire took of homeowners near Oliver evacuating their large executive home as wildfires raged in every direction earned McGuire a bronze medal for Best Spot News Photo at this year’s CCNA awards competition.

These awards come after the Osoyoos Times was named the Best Newspaper, General Excellence, in its circulation class at the 2014 Ma Murray Awards competition.

In 2015, the Osoyoos Times was named the Best Newspaper, General Excellence, in its circulation class for all of Canada claiming three first place prizes at the annual CCNA competition.

The newspaper also claimed top prize for Best Front Page and Best Editorial Page during the 2015 CCNA competition.

Just down the road, the Oliver Chronicle, which is also owned by Aberdeen Publishing, has also had an amazing run of success.

Editor Lyonel Doherty accepted the award for Best Newspaper, General Excellence, in its circulation class at the Ma Murray Awards.

Two photographs taken by Doherty – one featuring emergency responders rescuing a young man who had fallen through the ice on Tuc El Nuit Lake just before Christmas and a second taken last summer of a homeowner trying to battle flames on the roof of his house after the wildfires had broken out – claimed top prize in the 2016 CCNA awards competition.

The photo of the ice rescue claimed a third place trophy at the Ma Murray Awards over the weekend.

All of this recent success at both newspaper is shared by the hard-working, capable and exceptionally professional staff who work at the Osoyoos Times and Oliver Chronicle.

Joining the editorial team of Lacey and McGuire in Osoyoos is associate publisher and ad designer Ronda Jahn, office administrator Jocelyn Merit and advertising sales associate Ken Baker.

This team has now been together for more than three years and it’s no coincidence that all of the success in awards competition has taken place with these people working together as a well-oiled newspaper machine.

Linda Bolton, the managing director with Aberdeen Publishing, also plays a pivotal role as she constantly encourages the team and allows us to all do our job without interference.

Bob Doull, the longtime owner of Aberdeen Publishing, has always shared a philosophy to hire good people and let them do their jobs. We truly appreciate and respect his continued support.

We’re all exceptionally proud of winning these awards and accolades from our peers and we promise to continue doing everything in our power to continue publishing an outstanding newspaper at the Osoyoos Times each and every week.

We are confident that more awards and recognition from our peers will be part of our future.