BarrieToday was recognized at Masthead's Canadian Online Publishing Awards on Thursday for our coverage of the July 15 tornado in the city's south end last summer.
Photojournalist Kevin Lamb won gold for his images capturing the "grim scenes" amid the devastation.
"I’m honoured to be recognized for my work that day, and grateful to BarrieToday for giving me the opportunities to capture images of this city’s history as it unfolds," Lamb said. "I have been documenting news in Barrie since 2005, and it means a lot to me to be able to do that."
The BarrieToday news team — including Lamb, editor Raymond Bowe and reporters Marg. Bruineman, Bob Bruton, Nikki Cole, and Shawn Gibson — also won silver for Best Daily News/Sports Coverage.
"In the news business, by its very nature, you never know when catastrophe will strike," Bowe said. "On that hot July afternoon, everyone jumped into action immediately and began working together to gather as much information as quickly as we could to keep our readers informed.
"To be recognized for our hard work and dedication that day is definitely a proud moment," he added.
Gibson, Bruton and Bruineman were also co-nominated for Best Continuing Coverage of a Story.
BarrieToday had its first story published less than an hour after the twister touched down shortly after 2:30 p.m., in the area of Mapleview Drive East and Prince William Way.
By nightfall, we had published a dozen different stories, with many more to come in the weeks and months to follow. These stories were everything from the clean-up in the immediate aftermath of the storm and neighbours banding together to help each other, to the science behind the tornado from weather experts, as well as other topics such as hurricane straps, home construction and insurance coverage.
Reporters were on the scene almost immediately, beginning with Lamb and Gibson who were the first to arrive. Lamb, who lives in the affected area, grabbed his camera gear and started walking the streets to chronicle the destruction, while Gibson set about speaking to witnesses and those who had been touched by the ferocious winds.
Some homes had their roofs torn off and debris littered the area. Thankfully, no one was killed.
The rest of the news team also sprung into action, working the phones and contacting various sources and agencies, because getting into the south-end tornado zone had become increasingly difficult. As they made their way into the disaster area, their journalistic instincts kicked in and they gathered all of the information they could.
