Gyulai, Fisher in running for newspaper award

20 May 2009

Two members of the Montreal Newspaper Guild are finalists in the National Newspaper Awards (NNA) competition.

Linda Gyulai and Red Fisher will find out at the awards ceremony Friday in Montreal whether they will be taking home cheques for $1,000 that are handed to the winners.

This is the second straight year that Gyulai has been nominated for an NNA. Her entry in the Short Features category was an amusing story on road cones. Last year she was a nominee in the Explanatory Work category for her examination of Montreal's crumbling water system from reservoir to sewers.

Red Fisher is nominated in the Sports category for a critical feature on former goaltender Patrick Roy who had his number retired by the Canadiens.

There were 1,385 entries in this year’s competition for works that appeared in the year 2008. In all, 24 news organizations have been nominated, the highest in NNA history. The winners will be announced during the Canadian Newspaper Association conference.

Guild's champion
of media rights
nominated for
press freedom award

15 April 2009

William Marsden, the Montreal Newspaper Guild's stalwart defender of freedom of expression, has been nominated for a Press Freedom Award.

The Gazette's senior investigative journalist gets the nod for his stories on a land deal involving Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois and her husband, Claude Blanchet. Marois has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper, which threatens to stifle investigation into matters of public interest.

There are four other nominees for the award by the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom, which will be presented in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre on May 5.

The Press Freedom Award includes a cash prize of $2,000 and a certificate of honour from the CCWPF and the Canadian Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.