I never really knew that our industry here in the weekly news biz in Saskatchewan even gave out awards every year.
See, there's a yearly competition that's held every spring called the BNC's - the Better Newspapers Competition. It's held by the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association, and before COVID hit, it was held in conjunction with an SWNA AGM weekend. The event was typically held at a hotel in either Saskatoon or Regina, good food and good drinks, and the whole thing was pretty fun if you found yourself in attendance.
Now, after COVID, it seems that the BNC's are forever going to be one of those virtual events where we all sit around laptops and watch the 'ceremony' unfold, and in my mind, that's really too bad. For God's sake, let's get together again, shall we? Spend a little money, let's get the drinks flowing and the food served up. Remember when people did that? It was fun, wasn't it?
I started here in 2007, but my first appearance at such an event wasn't until five years later in 2012.
I found myself up for Best Feature Story for a special article I wrote on Lisa Rendall. Lisa was a longtime Saskatoon radio personality on C95 FM and she was actually a local from the area, as she was born in Outlook and grew up in Loreburn. In 2000, she was diagnosed with widespread incurable breast cancer at the age of 35, but despite this, she dug deep and turned her personal nightmare into hope for many as over the course of the next decade, Rendall raised more than $2.5 million for breast cancer research, including over $400,000 through the Lisa Rendall Golf Classic.
At the beginning of 2011, it was announced that Lisa had been named the CTV Saskatoon Citizen of the Year. A decade and change of fighting cancer had taken its toll, and it was obvious from her physical appearance that she didn't have very much time left in this world. I learned of her very deserving award win, remembered that, 'Hey, Lisa's actually an Outlooker, right?' and arranged an interview with her. I give Lisa nothing but absolute credit, as I could hear it in her voice that she was struggling to maintain some semblance of comfort in her daily life, but man, what an interview. She talked about her life, her hopes, her dreams, her memories, and how she hoped people would continue fighting cancer after she was gone.
I wrote my article on Lisa, and I was very satisfied with it. Sadly, three months after it was written and just weeks after Lisa attended a luncheon banquet to receive her actual Citizen of the Year award, she passed away on April 13, 2011. To this day, Lisa is credited with putting a face to breast cancer in Saskatchewan and making it possible for people to talk openly about their diagnoses.
Fast forward to the spring of 2012, and I discovered that I was up for an award for the article that I wrote on Lisa. The BNC awards gala was set to be held at a hotel in Regina, and whoa, because I was an award nominee, my room was comped for the night! I got to say, for a 26-year old kid, this was looking like a pretty sweet setup.
I got myself down to Regina that Saturday afternoon, eventually found a parking spot adjacent to the hotel, and got myself checked in. And you know how it is with hotel rooms, right? You go in, you immediately look all over the room and take in your surroundings. Little soaps and conditioner? Oh, you're coming with me tomorrow. For that matter, so are these wash clothes. It's funny how much of a cleptomaniac we all become in hotel rooms, isn't it?
Before long, I had to jump in the shower and make myself all presentable for the awards gala downstairs. I eventually make my way down there, find my coworkers at a table and sit down with them. Supper is up first and it's a pretty good layout. Then come the awards, and I'm starting to wonder if the 2.5-hour long drive to Regina to stay overnight is going to end up being worth it. If I *don't* win the only award that I'm in the running for, should I even still stay overnight or just hike it back home? A dozen thoughts run through my head before I hear my name mentioned twice. Once when the nominees were being announced, and again when my name was repeated because.......I won.
Wait, I won? I won! Huzzah! Handshakes all around, smiles lit up, and I proudly collected my award. At the end of the evening, I can remember standing it up on the desk that sat next to my hotel room window. Best Feature Story - Derek Ruttle, The Outlook. I took a photo to post on Facebook for friends and family to see and I went to sleep that night very happy and very proud. Turns out it was worth the drive after all.
Eleven years later, a few more nominations here and there, and a Columnist of the Year award that I'm very proud of, I find myself up for a couple more at this year's competition. Here's the thing about us in the press - we're there to tell YOUR stories and make YOU the centerpiece that everyone talks about, but I also won't lie; it's nice once in a blue moon to actually BE in the news for the work that you do. I guess we'll just see how it all plays out next month.
All these years later, and I still think about that first award that I was up for and actually won. When I do, I think about Lisa, and I'm forever grateful to her.
Thanks, Lisa.
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
