Gulf News has won the coveted Frank Veale Memorial Award for Best Community Newspaper in the independent New Zealand Community Newspapers Association’s 2021 awards for this year.
Runner up for the award is The Devonport Flagstaff, a newspaper that was founded by Gulf News publisher and editor Liz Waters. Judges commented that both publications serve a small and compact population.
“Neither allow photographs to dominate their pages. They are driven by the words, and because of the smaller pages don’t have the luxury of going big with pictures,” judges said.
Acknowledging the depth of coverage in both publications, they said: “Almost anything that moves – or doesn’t move – in Devonport and Waiheke will end up in the local paper”.
“The Gulf News got the win because it has slightly more of everything: more space to display their stories, more variety with their layouts, and consistently good front pages to lead readers into each week’s publication.”
Former Gulf News news editor, James Belfield is winner of the Best Headline award.
The judge commented on James’ “fabulous mix of the serious, the clever, the funny, the catchy and the pointed”.
“The crisp and engaging headlines achieve the ultimate aim – catching the eye and making the reader want to see what the story is about.
Also recognised in this year’s awards is reporter Erin Johnson who wins Best Lifestyle Feature Writer for the second year running with the judge commenting on her “solid series of environment articles”.
“The passion between the author and topic comes through in the writing. These feature articles are given enough space to cover the topic from a number of angles giving the stories depth.”
Erin is also runner up for Best Junior News Journalist, with the judge commenting: “Getting a person to talk following the devastation of enduring a house fire is not an easy task, but it was one that Erin tackled with aplomb. Erin’s coverage of the marina protest was extensive and her stories made me feel as though I was right there.”
Liz Waters says the awards are welcome recognition for the newspaper’s dedicated team.
Full story in this week’s Gulf News… Out Now!!!
