Examiner wins for best news story of 2006

Charles Montgomery and Matthew Surridge split the first-place award for their joint coverage of the Sept. 13 Dawson College shooting spree, which was put together in a last-minute rush before the paper was due to be sent to the printer.

"The story from the Westmount Examiner did show that a big story can be covered quickly, and with multiple sources," noted judge Jim Cornall of the Saint Croix, NB, Courier. "In just four hours, the reporters got the story, the photos, and as much information as possible. Clearly, with another day, there would have been even more coverage. But they managed to get comments, facts and a description of the scene without editorializing."

"It really was a frantic afternoon of rumours and confusion," remembers Examiner editor Wayne Larsen. "Charles was at Dawson the whole time, taking photos, interviewing witnesses and relaying information by phone and e-mail, while Matthew was here in the office, working with the phones and Internet."

But this was no Woodward-Bernstein effort, he said, noting that the two worked totally independently of each other and much of the story was typed directly onto the page. He added that, to this day, he doesn't think the two writers have ever even met.

The Dawson story provided a double-barrelled outlet for Montgomery's talents, as his dramatic close-up photo of two students hugging in the midst of all the chaos won second prize for best news photo, beating out 24 other entries from across the province.

"Charles's photo said it all," said Larsen, whose irreverent Christmas cartoon won third place for best editorial cartoon.

Chris Manitt won second place out of 30 entries in the feature photo category for his dramatic shot of a huge bolt of fork lightning touching down in or very near Westmount during one of last summer's most violent thunderstorms. "I know from sad experience just how hard it is to get a lightning picture," said judge Bill Clarke, editor emeritus of the Campbellton, NB, Tribune. "To do this well is great."

The Examiner also won third place in the best front page category, again for the Sept. 14 issue, which carried the Dawson College story, Montgomery's photo, and Andy Dodge's real estate report announcing that the average Westmount home valuation had surpassed $1 million.