Saskatchewan Valley News finalist in Tourism Saskatchewan Awards of Excellence program
Sask Valley News marketing manager Marv Fillmore with copies of the annual Visitors’ Guide, which helped the newspaper earn a finalist nomination in the Tourism Saskatchewan Awards of Excellence program.
By Rod Andrews
The Saskatchewan Valley News has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious 21st annual Tourism Saskatchewan Awards of Excellence program in the Corporate Partner of the Year category for the community weekly newspaper’s efforts in promoting local tourism.
Former Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor Lynda Haverstock, president and CEO of Tourism Saskatchewan, announced the nomination on behalf of the board of directors and staff of Tourism Saskatchewan in a letter sent to Janet Skrupski, owner of Sask Valley Publishers Inc., publishers of the Valley News.
“I extend hearty congratulations upon being selected as a finalist for the Corporate Partner of the Year Award,” said Haverstock of the honour.
Haverstock said nearly 90 award nominations were received this year for the Tourism Awards of Excellence program competition.
“Our Industry Selection Committee had an exciting but challenging task, given the quality of the nominees,” said Haverstock, who added that the awards will be presented at a gala banquet to be held Monday, March 15 at TCU Place in Saskatoon, which is taking place in conjunction with the third annual HOST Saskatchewan Conference.
The Valley News was nominated for the award based on the recommendation of the board of directors of Saskatchewan West Central Tourism, after they saw and praised the 2009 Visitors’ Guide that the paper published and distributed over much of central and western Saskatchewan last summer.
“I was thrilled to learn of our nomination for this prestigious award,” said Skrupski. “Each year we have been expanding and improving our Visitors’ Guide, and in 2009 we were able to make it available online as well.
Tourism Saskatchewan says that the corporate partner is not traditionally recognized as part of the tourism industry, “but has shown exceptional support of tourism in Saskatchewan at any level” with various types of partnerships relating to the industry to be considered for the award.
The award nomination, submitted by Owen Einsiedler of Saskatchewan West Central Tourism on behalf of the board of directors, stated that Sask Valley Publishers Inc. is a private sector news media enterprise, with its main publication being the weekly newspaper The Saskatchewan Valley News.
It was noted in the nomination that the Valley News actively promotes tourism with coverage of local and regional tourist destinations, as well as related news stories about local tourist attractions and related businesses.
The nomination pointed out that articles have varied from those on the Batoche National Historic Site, Fort Carlton, the Doukhobor caves near Blaine Lake, the Station Arts Centre performing arts theatre and art gallery in Rosthern, Auto Clearing Motor Speedway near Martensville, Valley Regional Park, in both Waldheim and Rosthern and much more.
The nomination noted that the paper’s major tourism promotion is the publication of the annual Visitors’ Guide which is produced and published each spring, and has, over the past few years, grown to include a wide range of places of interest to anyone visiting the province.
Last year the 2009 issue included a map of 50 locations and events with corresponding articles and pictures as an inviting way to stir the interest of both residents and tourists alike.
These destinations ranged from as far north as the Candle Lake Golf Resort and Elk Ridge Resort to Folk Fest, the Western Development Museum and the Dakota Dunes Casino near Saskatoon to the south; as far east as the One Arrow Pow Wow and Wakaw Lake Regional Park and as far west as Fort Battleford and the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in Battleford.
The nomination to Tourism Saskatchewan also pointed out that the Visitors’ Guide is distributed free of charge. In addition to including copies for all of our subscribers, copies are delivered to the Saskatchewan Tourism Information Booths in Prince Albert, Saskatoon, North Battleford and Lloydminster. Copies are also provided to local tourist booths such as those at Rosthern and Shellbrook. The electronic version is available online at saskvalleynews.com.
This is the first time that The Saskatchewan Valley News Visitors’ Guide has received provincial attention in this way, although it is well known, respected and appreciated locally.
“We have published the Visitors’ Guide for many years,” said Renay Kowalczyk, editor of The Saskatchewan Valley News, who does most of the production work of the guide.
“It really took off and started to grow when Marvin Fillmore, our marketing manager, started promoting it earlier and earlier each year. In fact, he actually started last fall, selling advertisements for the 2010 edition.
“As well, the addition of full colour to the Visitors’ Guide has attracted a lot of attention to the publication, both from advertisers and those picking it up to see what is happening in the area each summer.”
Kowalczyk said that the special golf course section that was added to the Visitors’ Guide last year was a very popular addition to the publication and will be included again this year when the Visitors’ Guide comes out in early June.
Other nominee finalists were not available at press time.
