CBC Sudbury journalists win award for school closure coverage

CBC Sudbury has been recognized for excellence by the Radio Television Digital News Association.

The awards ceremony was held in Toronto on Saturday.

CBC Sudbury won the Ron Laidlaw Award for Continuing Coverage for its reporting on the fight to save local schools in the city. 

• 'My kids are really disappointed': 8 schools to shut down in Sudbury area

CBC was in the lead on its coverage of the Rainbow District School Board's accommodation review, which included plans to close schools in some areas, amalgamate others and cancel some programs. The stories reflected the concerns of local parents in every corner of the city, accountability interviews with the school board, and the voices of anxious students.

"Our coverage was very much a team effort, and exemplifies our commitment to excellence in local programming," said Fiona Christensen, Executive Producer at CBC in Sudbury. "Every person on our staff played a role in ensuring CBC Sudbury delivered on this story, for the weeks and months it took to unfold."

Three reporters in particular spent much time on these stories. Olivia Stefanovich, Martha Dillman and Angela Gemmill made the trip to Toronto Saturday to accept the award on behalf of the station.

Here are CBC's other Ontario winners:

• CBC Windsor –  Byron MacGregor Award - Top Medium Market newscast
• CBC Thunder Bay – Digital media award – Deep Water
• CBC Thunder Bay – In-depth or investigative, multiplatform – Deep Water
• CBC Thunder Bay – Short feature (Dave Rogers award), radio – A Promise Kept.
• CBC Thunder Bay – Sports feature reporting, radio – Drunkinental Cup
• CBC Toronto – Live special events (Gordon Sinclair award), digital – Toronto Pride on Facebook Live
• CBC Toronto – Spot news (Charlie Edwards award), digital – The death of Rob Ford
• CBC Toronto – Creative use of sound (Dick Smythe award), radio – Metro Morning
• CBC Hamilton -- Continuing coverage, digital (Ron Laidlaw award) - Tim Bosma trial