🌸 Hello, April! 🌸
Spring is in full swing and so are we!
In this month’s newsletter, we’re buzzing with fresh energy and exciting updates, including big interview wins, upcoming events and award celebrations.
Village moves 🌟
A warm welcome to Steve Cornwell who has joined The Trillium team as a newsletter reporter.
In team expansion news: the Client Services team and the Marketing and Communications team both grew in April, adding skilled designers to each of the departments.
Carrie Walls, Stephanie Andrews and Jayda Avilla (when not engaged with Accretive projects) have joined the Client Services team, where they will contribute their expertise in ad design.
Danielle Fleming and Leah Johnson have joined my team, continuing their strong design leadership across key programs including SPACES, Village Gold, Cares, CBAs and our email programs.
Welcome and best of luck!
Celebrating the Heart of Orillia: Third annual Community Builders Awards 🫶
Now in its third year, the OrilliaMatters Community Builders Awards provide an annual opportunity to acknowledge the people putting in the work to improve Orillia now and for the future.
The CBAs recognize positive local contributions from individuals and organizations across various sectors, including Arts, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Health Care, Sports and Recreation and more.
The awards are part of the OrilliaMatters Cares program, which aims to inspire community engagement and highlight the efforts of those working to better the community.
You can see a full list of this year’s winners here. Feature articles on each of the winners will be rolling out on OrilliaMatters over the next two weeks.
Jessica Owen nominated for Canadian Association of Journalists award 🏆
The Canadian Association of Journalists has announced this year’s finalists for Canada’s top investigative journalism awards and our very own Jessica Owen is among them!
Jessica was named a finalist in the JHR/CAJ award for Human Rights Reporting for her powerful CollingwoodToday story about a victim of a violent sexual assault who was left reeling when she encountered significant challenges accessing support services following the attack.
The local woman navigated a complex system of victim services that often provided conflicting information and inadequate support. She experienced difficulties with jurisdictional overlaps and bureaucratic obstacles that hindered her recovery. Despite these challenges, she has become an advocate for systemic change, reaching out to government officials to highlight the gaps in support for sexual assault victims.
CAJ award winners will be announced on May 31.
From the desk of our editor-in-chief ✍️
Don’t ask, don’t get. With that mantra in mind, Scott Sexsmith spent the past couple months pestering the Prime Minister’s office almost daily, asking if Mark Carney would sit down for a pre-election interview with our ‘Inside the Village’ podcast. Scott’s persistence paid off.
On April 24 — four days before Election Day — the PMO told Scott we could have 20 minutes with Carney the next morning, during a campaign stop at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie.
Some behind-the-scenes fun: The video crew — Zack Trunzo, Drew Armstrong and Eythan Henson — had mere minutes to set up all the gear before Carney showed up. To their credit, the whole thing went off without a hitch.
For those keeping score, our sit-down with Carney was our second interview in less than six months with a Canadian prime minister. (Justin Trudeau spoke to the podcast last October).
For the record, we repeatedly asked Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to join us for a chat. We never received a response from his campaign team.
Spotted around the Village 🌎
The FlamboroughToday team enjoyed a night of fun and fundraising at the Waterdown Rotary Club's Night at the Oscars Trivia night. The event raised $12,000 for Rotary community and international projects.
Members of the head office editorial team bid farewell to our student intern Emmet Paradis after a six-week placement.
Algonquin College journalism placement student Kaitlyn Lemay (centre, in white sweater) posed with the Sudbury.com staff on her last day in the newsroom. Thanks for all your work, Kaitlyn, and best of luck for your career!
✨ Spotlight on sponsorships ✨
In April, we sponsored 23 events and initiatives across our communities, including:
AuroraToday
Holistic Healing Fair
BarrieToday
Morey Made Market
BayToday
North Bay Regional Health Centre Foundation
CambridgeToday
Preston Figure Skating Gala, Galt Jazz Fest, Acton Academy, Arcady Ensemble
CollingwoodToday
Bowl For Kids Sake BBBS Grey Bruce, Collingwood Skating Club, Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts
MiltonToday
Community Living North Halton Casino Night
NewmarketToday
Better Living Charitable Foundation
OrilliaMatters
Holistic Healing Fair
PelhamToday
Pelham Concert Series
SooToday
Holistic Healing Fair, Algoma Autism Foundation, Northland Barbershop Chorus, One Stop Christmas Show Spring Fling for Twinkie Foundation, Musical Comedy Guild
Sudbury.com
Pro X Wrestling, Sudbury Home Builders Show
ThoroldToday
Art at the Pumphouse
TimminsToday
Sports for Kids Timmins
Pawesome Villager of the month 🐾
Say hello to Elodie 💜
This good girl just joined Greg Bellec-Rodrigues’ family this month.
Send us your pet pics here!
See you in May!
