Saanich News reporter Travis Paterson is in the running for two provincial newspaper awards.
The British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspapers Association (BCYCNA) recognized Paterson in two categories: sports writing and multi-media breaking news reporting.
Paterson’s story about Saanich high school football player Sahjun Sehmi succeeding on the field after overcoming a team hazing incident at his former school is one of three finalists for the BCYCNA’s Sports Writing Award.
After Sehmi had found his gear doused in urine in early May 2017, the Grade 12 student left Mount Douglas secondary school for Spectrum, which he helped lead to to Subway Bowl Tier 2 provincial high school football championship. The story followed up on several articles in which Paterson detailed various problems at Mount Douglas’ football program, one of the most dominant programs in British Columbia.
Paterson also earned recognition for his coverage of breaking news, when he reported both in print and online about a motor vehicle collision that left 11-year-old Leila Bui in hospital with a medically induced coma. Paterson has since filed several follow-up stories on the collision that happened on Dec. 20, 2017 and the condition of Bui.
Paterson’s two nominations are among a total of nine BCYCNA nominations for the six Black Press newspapers in the Greater Victoria region.
BCYCNA will hand out its final awards — also known as the Ma Murray Awards — on Saturday, April 28, in Richmond, B.C.