The Toronto Star: Sheila Pratt

Ottawa Citizen Dept: Overall, the Globe and Mail walked away with the largest number of awards at the 63rd National Newspaper Awards competition - eight NNAs. The Toronto Star was next with five. There were 71 finalists and 1,350 entries, according to Vancouver Sun. Postmedia journalists were honoured in multiple categories. Don Butler of the Ottawa Citizen was a runner-up in the politics category for his stories on how Canada grants asylum to refugees, as was the Edmonton Journal's Sheila Pratt for her perceptive investigation on bad blood in Alberta politics and the National Post was runner-up in the Special Project category for its series on Canada's decade-long war in Afghanistan. Afghanistan: The Long Road'' chronicled the details of the military mission from beginning to end in stories, photos, sketches, blogs and infographics. Another branch of the project was a series of visceral stories in which soldiers recounted their most vivid memories of the conflict. The winners and runners-up were announced at a gala awards ceremony Friday night in Toronto. Winners received cheques for $1,000 and a certificate. Runners-up received citations of merit. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.