Hamilton Spectator staff win big at Ontario Newspaper Awards
Work by Spectator journalists in 2022 was recognized in a big way by the Ontario Newspaper Awards.
The Hamilton Spectator secured 15 of the 18 possible nominations across six categories in which the newspaper's writers were eligible to apply, winning the award in four of them.
Winners and nominees in the annual celebration of work by daily newspapers were both announced on Thursday.
Crime and justice reporter Nicole O'Reilly, justice columnist Susan Clairmont, feature writer Jon Wells and health reporter Joanna Frketich took home the four awards, with journalists Grant LaFleche, Sebastian Bron, Matthew Van Dongen and former reporter Katrina Clarke, as well as columnist Mark McNeil, all picking up nominations.
O'Reilly won the award for Spot News Writing for her up-to-the-minute coverage of the inquest into the death of Devon Freeman, an Indigenous youth who died by suicide while in the care of the Children's Aid Society. O'Reilly was also nominated for General News Feature for a story about the continued grief faced by the family of Yosif Al-Hasnawi, the Good Samaritan who was shot outside a mosque in 2017. She also earned a nomination in the Enterprise Reporting category along with Van Dongen for their continued investigative work into crashes on the Red Hill Valley Parkway.
Clairmont earned the award for Enterprise Reporting for her series Getting Rich, which focused on the murder of a Dundas couple in a fire set by the woman's son. She also earned a nomination in the Column/Opinion Writing category for a series of articles that looked behind the headlines from her coverage of courts.
Wells won the Feature Writing award for his in-depth series on a retired hitman and organized crime in Hamilton. He also earned a nomination in the General News Feature category for a look at how a family is bucking the trend of a decline in farming.
Frketich won the General News Feature award for her investigation into how COVID swept through a Hamilton seniors' home. She also earned a nomination in the Feature Writing category for her reporting on how the current crises in health care coalesced around a particular senior who died in hospital.
LaFleche earned two nominations: one in Beat Reporting for a series of stories on the freedom movement" and online hate, and another in Enterprise Reporting for his feature Ghosts in the Villa.
Bron, with former Spec journalist Clarke, earned a nod in the Beat Reporting category as well for a series of stories around privacy breaches at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.
McNeil was nominated in the Column/Opinion Writing category for his weekly column Flashbacks.
Reach The Spectator newsroom at 905-526-3420 or news@thespec.com