Hall of Fame
The Ontario Community Newspapers Association (OCNA) is proud to recognize and celebrate individuals who have made exemplary contributions to Ontario’s community newspapers through our Hall of Fame. Inductees will be respected community news professionals who have remained passionate about the industry throughout challenges, opportunities and changes. They will be leaders who have helped community newspapers adapt and grow.
Jack Evans has been a journalistic stalwart for over 65 years and is currently the dean of news in the Bay of Quinte area. Jack was bitten by the journalism bug during his time as a boy chorister in Belleville where, using a borrowed typewriter...
Bob Hall was born with ink in his veins and naturally followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather into the newspaper industry. His parents, Gordon and Marion, purchased the Haldimand Advocate in 1931 with Bob coming along in 1937. By 16...
Sam Laurin joined the family-owned Morrisburg Leader in 1977 -- along with his brother Terry and later his brother Mike -- becoming the third generation of Laurin's to run the 160-year-old paper. Since then, Sam and his family have worked hard...
On Labour Day 1985, Mark Ribble walked into the composing room of the Leamington Post beginning a career that has seen him work in almost every area of the newspaper business. During high school, Mark dreamed about becoming a broadcast journalist...
Peter Winkler spent 36 years in the newspaper business as a leader both in ad sales and as a publisher, bringing value and growing every publication he worked for. He began his career at the Kitchener-Waterloo Record before becoming a sales manager...
After attending Carleton University in Ottawa, and an adventure of discovery through Europe in the early 1970s, Atkins worked briefly for the federal government in the newly amalgamated city of Thunder Bay...
Abbas Homayed came to Canada in 1986 with little money and little English. The community where he has made his home now is a true testament to his hard work, civic leadership and the will to make a difference...
Keith Roulston grew up during a time when neighbours came together to undertake tasks that were too big to accomplish alone. The lesson that community action can help the individual achieve his or her goals has been a guiding principle
Murray Skinner's newspaper career spans over 40 years, 33 of them with Metroland, preceded by 8 years with Thomson Newspapers. He served as Metroland's vice president of marketing for 19 years, before being appointed president in 2000. He retired in 2008.
Jim Thomas' career in the newspaper business spanned eight decades. He still remembers his first story, which was published in the Markham Economist and Sun while attending high school. He hitchhiked to Windsor
William (Bill) Charles Cavell began his over 72-year career in the newspaper business in a small way. Learning that his high school had no newspaper, Bill stepped in to fill the void with a mimeographed sheet that he sold to fellow students...
Wayne Green's newspaper career began at the age of 16 in 1951, right out of high school, as an "apprentice printer" at the Temiskaming Speaker Printing Company (TPC) in New Liskeard, printer of the Temiskaming Speaker weekly newspapers...
Ron Lenyk began his career in 1970, working for the Mississauga News as a sports reporter and was promoted to sports editor not a year later. By June 1971, he was promoted to editor and in 1977 was named publisher of the Brampton Guardian...
Jack Morris began his newspaper career at the Chesterville Record in the 1920s as a "printer's devil" and spent 65 years in the community newspaper business. It would have been more, but he served as an intelligence officer in WWII...
Joanne first walked into the Oshawa This Week newsroom 39 years ago as an intern. One month later, she was hired as a reporter, and five years into her career, she was appointed Community Editor. Ever since then her passion for the newspaper industry...
Art, born in Sudbury in 1912, was a newspaper publisher, editor and innovator. In 1920, while working at a newspaper in North Bay, the stock market crashed, and the Great Depression hit. After being laid off, he sold his Model T for the price of a new...
Jim Cumming was born with ink flowing through his veins. His father, grandfather and grandmother all worked in the newspaper industry, from Ontario through to Saskatchewan. Sure enough, Jim followed in the footsteps of his relatives.
Rick's long career and love for the newspaper industry began in 1967, after answering an ad he spotted in the Globe and Mail looking for a reporter at the Gore Bay Recorder on Manitoulin Island. When asked if he could type, Rick replied 'yes' and...
Jean (nee Bier) Morrison was an integral, active and admired leader in the community newspaper business for many years. Born in New Hamburg, she was a teacher by trade. After graduating from the University of Western, she taught mathematics at Napanee...
Born in 1885, Rixon lived to become recognized as a pioneer in weekly newspapers, despite losing his eyesight as a youth. With an intense love of journalism, and a degree from Queen's University, he purchased a weekly newspaper, the Arthur Enterprise...