As reported in the article on page A3, the Times has won first place for best all round newspaper in its circulation class from Canadian Community Newspaper Association.
CCNA also awarded the Times first place for best editorial page and second place for best front page in its class.
These awards were a bit of a surprise for us.
When CCNA announced the results of its Better Newspapers competition in March, it awarded first place in all three categories to the Alberni Valley News.
Only later was it discovered that the News had been placed in the wrong class. With a circulation of over 9,000, it was just a little bit large to fit into the under-1,250 category.
One would like to think that moving up from second place to first shouldn't make that much difference, but it does.
We've won first place for best all round newspaper with CCNA before (in 2011) but this is the first year we combined that win with a first place in general excellence from B.C. and Yukon Community Newspaper Association.
Being in the under-1,250 circulation class with CCNA means the Times was competing against other essentially one-person newsrooms.
Saying it's a one-person newsroom doesn't tell the whole story, however.
The fact is, it takes a team to make a newspaper, which is why we tried to get as many faces of those responsible for this newspaper into the award photo in this week's issue.
Everyone involved is proud to have a part in producing what independent judges have consistently said is one of Canada's best small town newspapers.
It's a lot of work but we find it easy to do, because we're telling the stories about what we feel is one of the best small towns in Canada.