Tyler Sabourin, an associate news editor with the Prince George Citizen, took home the top prize in the photo illustration category of the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards Thursday.
Sabourin was honoured for his work on the Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013 edition of the Citizen and his presentation of a front-page story on the first anniversary of the death of Greg Matters.
The illustration included an image from Citizen photographer Brent Braaten from inside the one-room cabin that Matters had been using as a quiet place to study as he pursued a post-secondary diploma through distance education. The photo looked out upon the field where Matters was killed in a police incident on Sept. 10, 2012.
Sabourin also used a photo of Matters from his time in the military.
Matters, a retired member of the Canadian military, was suffering from post-dramatic stress disorder when a domestic dispute with his brother escalated and a series of events led the RCMP's emergency response team to be called in. A team member killed Matters when he approached one of the other officers with a hatchet and after an attempt to Taser him failed.
The Kelowna Capital News and the Wainwright Edge from Alberta were the runners up in the photo illustration category. The awards are handed out by Newspapers Canada, a joint initiative of the Canadian Newspaper Association and the Canadian Community Newspapers Association.
