The Picton Gazette raked in five awards and two honourable mentions for its coverage in 2025 at the Ontario Community Newspapers Association annual awards banquet. 

Canada’s oldest community paper, the Gazette sits in the “circulation over 8000” category of larger weeklies.

Editor Jason Parks was on hand to scoop up two awards for photography. Mr. Parks won two second place awards, one for a Feature photo celebrating Maple in the County, and another for a Sports photo that captured the intensity of the PECI Panthers Rugby team in action—so much so that the competition judge noted, “this is why I never played rugby.”

Publisher Karen Valihora won second place for best Feature News Series for a set of articles focusing on Picton Terminals and its Ministerial Zoning Order. The series was cited for its in-depth exploration of “the real impact of an issue that could affect everything from environment to the democratic process in the community.” 

Ms. Valihora’s editorial, “Wash Your Hands,” won first prize for Best Editorial. Calling out the provincial ministries supposedly supervising the Terminals, it notes how each has passed the buck to another. The judge noted the editorial’s “great development, backed up well with facts and quotes,” adding, “you are lucky to have that room to develop your editorial!” 

Ms. Valihora was pleased. “Well that was a relief, frankly, because sometimes I worry I am going on too long. We prioritize that space for thinking through local and global issues, and are always pleased to have others contribute there as well.”

Her coverage of Picton Harbour in “MarinaGate” received an Honourable Mention for Investigative News. “A thoroughly reported piece,” the judge noted, “obviously a painstaking amount of research, interviews and fact checking.”

Graphic designer Natalie Piper won third place in the Retail Layout category for her work on PECWine’s Wassail festival. “It brings out the warmth of the season with clear information,” noted the judge.

And, finally, the Gazette earned an Honourable Mention in the General Excellence category for the first time. The citation noted the paper’s visual appeal, strong photography, and use of colour. “The way stories are formatted draws in the reader’s attention,” said the judge.

“Obviously, I am thrilled with Best Editorial, as with the recognition of the work of the rest of our team,” noted Ms. Valihora, “but I was perhaps most warmed by the Honourable Mentions for Investigative News and General Excellence. Those are the most important categories for a newspaper.” 

She also noted the well attended awards banquet, and heartening news of community newspapers emerging from a decade of coordinated attacks on journalism and the free press, as well as loss of advertising to both Google and social media platforms.

“The infusion of $100 million every year under Canada’s Online News Act, paid by Google to the news producers to which it links on its platform, including the Picton Gazette, is leading to a resurgence of community news, and even newspapers,  across the country,” she enthused. “New print editions are appearing and journalists are being hired again. 

“Meta continues to refuse not only to compensate legitimate journalism on its platforms, Instagram and Facebook, in Canada, but to post news links at all. What a terrible response to a law designed to protect and promote researched, fact-checked information.”

The Gazette is grateful to its hardworking team, its advertisers, and its readers. We believe in the community this paper has served for 196 years, and are keenly aware of its support during a time when journalism is most in need.