The Minden Times was awarded second place in its circulation category at the Ontario Community Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Awards in Toronto on April 7.
The annual awards dinner follows the OCNA convention and is held to recognize accomplishment in all facets of community newspaper publishing.
“The Minden Times is a solid community newspaper with front pages that are filled with important community news that is well written and covers a wide range of beats from hard news to sports to the arts” the judges wrote. “This trend is continued throughout the paper by the Times’ staff who have put together a well packaged well reproduced and easy to read publication for their readers.”
In the premier awards competition the Times’ page 7 columnist Jim Poling Sr. was awarded first place as Columnist of the Year. “Jim Poling gives us some great storytelling” the judge wrote. “These are well written well developed columns.”
Times publisher David Zilstra was given the Silver Quill Award for more than 25 years in the industry. Zilstra started at the Napanee Guide before coming to the Times and Haliburton Echo in 2005. He became publisher of the Barrie Examiner in 2010. In 2014 he returned to the Times Echo Bancroft This Week and County Life. His extensive community involvement in the Highlands and in other communities he has lived and worked in was noted during the ceremony.
The Times’ sister paper the Haliburton Echo took home first prize in general excellence in its circulation category as well as second place in several writing competitions and ad design.