RTDNA Canada Announces 2026 Central Region Awards Finalists
RTDNA Canada is pleased to recognize excellence in digital and broadcast journalism with the Regional Awards of Excellence.
RTDNA Canada Awards honour the best journalists, programs, platforms, stations, and newsgathering organizations in audio, digital and video.
Regional awards winners will be announced in September 2026.
Congratulations to the finalists for their excellent work!
2026 RTDNA Awards Central Region Finalists
AUDIO
Best Podcast
- TVO Today – (MIS)Treated
- CPAC – The Bureau Chiefs
- CBC Montreal – This is Montreal: Can you hear me now?
- CBC Ottawa – What happens during an all-nighter at the Elgin Street Diner?
Breaking News (Large Market)
- CBC Montreal – Missing Toddler Found Alive After Desperate Search
- CJAD 800 – The Passing of Hockey Great Ken Dryden
Breaking News (Small/Medium Market)
- AM800 CKLW – Diageo to close Crown Royal bottling plant in Amherstburg
Excellence in Editing
- CBC London – A lesson in how to bin shop from the most committed bargain hunters
- CBC Toronto – Jerusalem Youth Chorus: ‘Being One Voice’
- CBC Sudbury – Learning the art of backcountry canoe camping
- CBC Montreal – Montreal’s Afghan Women’s Centre serves up delicious food and assistance
Excellence in Sports Reporting
- CBC Ottawa – Hockey and hijabs: New to Canada and the sport, these girls have found their game
- CBC Montreal – How DDO got more girls on the hockey rink
- CBC Toronto – Swimming across Lake Ontario
Feature News (Large Market)
- CBC Montreal – Madame Simone remembered as a legend at Cabaret Mado
- CBC Ottawa – The loss of Dave Nicholson
- CBC Toronto – Volunteer pallbearers bury unclaimed body
Feature News (Small/Medium Market)
- CBC Windsor – Talking to people living on the streets of Windsor on a bitterly cold December day
- CBC Sudbury – The Magic of Horsecraft
- CBC Quebec – Townships family-run Indian restaurant Shalimar hires new chef from Bangladesh who brings new flavours
News – Live Special Events
- CBC Montreal – CBC News: Quebec Votes Municipal 2025
- CJAD 800 – Celebrating 80 Years of CJAD, The Andrew Carter Morning Show, Dec. 8, 2025
Opinion
- Newstalk 580 CFRA – Canada’s Tariffs Response
- CBC Ottawa – CBC Ontario Today: Shoplifting through the eyes of the shoplifter
- CBC Montreal – Flip Phone: What is a kosher phone?
- AM800 CKLW – Manufactured rage
Radio Newscast (Large Market)
- CBC Montreal – CBC Montreal Radio News at 8:30 AM for November 27, 2025
- CBC Toronto – Morning News on CBC Toronto
- Newstalk 580 CFRA
Radio Newscast (Small/Medium Market)
- 570 NewsRadio Waterloo Region 8am Newscast
DIGITAL
Breaking News (Large Market)
- CP24.com – Fiery plane crash at Pearson airport
- CTV News Montreal – Missing toddler found alive
- CBC News Montreal – Organized crime figure dead, 2 others injured in shooting at Laval Starbucks
- CBC Toronto – Pearson plane crash
Excellence in Data Storytelling
- CBC Ottawa – Two-thirds of Ontario school boards in deficit or just breaking even
Excellence in Social
- CBC Toronto – 2025 Coverage
- CBC London – Checking out a poison book? What the toxic pages tell us
- CBC News Montreal – Understanding the impact of tariffs and the trade war
Excellence in Sports Reporting
- CP24.com – Blue Jays fever takes over small Florida town
- CBC News Montreal – Every NHL jersey is made in Canada, but U.S. tariffs could change that
- CBC Kitchener-Waterloo – Teen makes Canadian shooting history
Feature News (Large Market)
- CBC News Montreal – Community gathers to mourn Leonora King, a pillar of Montreal’s Park Ex
- CBC Toronto – Police in Ejaz Choudry death identified
- CityNews Montreal – Revolving door
- CP24.com – Toronto mom and son reunited after abduction
Feature News (Small/Medium Market)
- CBC London – 25 years later, Walkerton, Ont., bears the scars but has bounced back
- CBC North Cree unit – Life before the agreement
- CBC Kitchener-Waterloo – Remembrance Day mystery man identified
- CBC Quebec – This Quebec man is losing his voice. An AI tool is helping bring it back to life
News – Live Special Events
- CBC News Montreal – Municipal election results in Montreal
- CBC Toronto – Ontario Election Night 2025
- CP24.com – Ontario Votes
- CTV News Montreal – Quebec Municipal elections 2025
Opinion
- CBC News Montreal – I didn’t vote for 21 years. Trump’s attacks on my homeland and Canada changed everything
- CBC Ottawa – I feel both guilt and gratitude when I think of how hard my parents work to support me
Overall Excellence in Digital
- CBC Toronto – 2025 Coverage
- CBC Ottawa – A piece of home
- CBC Kitchener-Waterloo – Digital coverage for Waterloo region
- The Green Line – How to navigate renting around the Eglinton Crosstown
MULTIPLATFORM
Continuing Coverage (Small/Medium Market)
- CTV News Montreal – Big back-to-back snowstorms
- CTV News Toronto – Blue Jays Playoff Coverage
Global News Toronto – Former Hockey Canada players on trial for sex assault - CBC Toronto – GM Oshawa Job Cuts
- CBC Ottawa – ‘Safer supply’ clinic has neighbourhoods on edge
Continuing Coverage (Small/Medium Market)
- CTV News Barrie – At the Breaking Point: The City of Barrie Declares a State of Emergency
- CBC Thunder Bay – Bringing Percy Home: First Nation family repatriates ancestor’s remains
- CBC Kitchener-Waterloo – CBC KW covers the federal election
- CBC Sudbury – Constance Lake inquest into blastomycosis deaths
Enterprise Journalism (Large Market)
- Global News Toronto – A convicted murderer tries to escape from custody
- CityNews Toronto – Air BNB Guest Won’t Leave
- CTV News Montreal – Bad faith renovictions?
- CBC Toronto – Gridlocked: The Way Out
Enterprise Journalism (Small/Medium Market)
- CBC Quebec – A look at food insecurity in Quebec
- CTV News Barrie – Eyes in the Darkness: the Hidden Cost of Roadside Zoos
- CTV News Kitchener – Family Seeks Accountability for Withdrawn Assault Charge
- CBC Thunder Bay – Ontario Training School survivors seek closure 8 years after start of class action alleging abuse
Excellence in Innovation
- CTV News Windsor – Backyard cameras capture remarkable owl footage
- CBC News Montreal – CBC Montreal’s live exchange with Montreal’s mayoral candidates
- CBC Toronto – First look at Biidaasige Park
- CBC Ottawa – Still Positive
Excellence in Writing (Large Market)
- CBC Ottawa – St. Pius shooting, 50 years later
- CBC News Montreal – The roots of Quebec’s secularism debate, why it isn’t going away — and who it benefits
Excellence in Writing (Small/Medium Market)
- CTV News Barrie – Eyes in the Darkness: the Hidden Cost of Roadside Zoos
Investigative Excellence
- CTV News Toronto – “Skills Development Fund”
- CBC News Montreal – The rise and fall of Canada’s alleged grandparent scam king
- CTV News London – Toilets removed from homeless encampment
- TVO The Thread with Nam Kiwanuka – AI: Deepfake Reality
VIDEO
Audio-Visual Storytelling
- CBC Toronto – Canada’s Tallest Building
- Rogers tv Sault Ste Marie – Misko-Mjigodenh – The Red Dress
- CBC News Montreal – Mosque visit gives Montreal architecture students opportunity to discover Islamic architecture
Breaking News (Large Market)
- CTV News Ottawa – Breaking News – CTV News Ottawa
- Global News Toronto – Delta plane crashes at Pearson airport, multiple people injured
- CTV News Montreal – Missing toddler found alive
- CityNews Toronto – Plane Flips on tarmac at Pearson Airport
Breaking News (Small/Medium Market)
- CTV News Kitchener – CTV Kitchener: Police Taser Takedown & Armed Robbery
- CTV News Barrie – Double-Murder: Uncovering the Horror in the City’s Core
- CHCH News Hamilton – East Hamilton Water Main Break
Excellence in Camera Work
- Global News Toronto – ‘Dinner in the Sky’ takes diners to new heights at the CNE
- CityNews Toronto – Becoming A Bird Lady in “The Lion King”
- CBC News Montreal – Montreal A to V: Go deep inside this hidden cave in Saint-Léonard
- CityNews Toronto – Raising money for granddaughter with Lyme disease
Excellence in Editing
- CBC Ottawa – His abuela fled Chile after the coup. Now he’s telling her story
- CityNews Toronto – Iconic Imperial Pub gets set to close
- CBC Toronto – Toronto’s New Waterfront Park
The Green Line – Yorkdale-Glen Park residents bring tiny libraries to the ‘burbs
Excellence in Sports Reporting
- CTV News Kitchener – A.I. Robots Replicate Pro Baseball Pitches
- Global Toronto – Blue Jays fans flock to Hollywood as playoff dreams soar
- CBC News Montreal – Does Quebec City stand a chance at a pro hockey team?
- CBC Ottawa – Kicking it old school: Why these childhood friends never want to stop playing soccer together
Excellence in Video
- CBC Ottawa – Spilling the chai
- CityNews Toronto – Tool theft takedown
- CBC News Montreal – Would you take the leap at Canada’s highest bungee jump? We did
- CHCH News Hamilton – Young Demolition Derby Champs
Feature News (Large Market)
- CityNews Montreal – ‘I Am My Name’: Na’kuset’s journey through Sixties Scoop
- Global News Montreal – Quebec Iron Ring Ceremony Celebrates 100 Years of the Canadian Tradition
- CBC Ottawa – Rare white beaver wows wildlife watchers
- CBC News Montreal – The Youppi! story — from Muppet DNA to a hold on Montreal’s heart
Feature News (Small/Medium Market)
- CTV News Windsor – ˜I was hit by a distracted driver:’ Windsor amputee offers dire warning
- CTV News Barrie – A Legacy of Storytelling: CKVR Celebrates 70 Years
- CHCH News Hamilton – Core Patrol and Open Drug Use in Hamilton
- CTV News Kitchener – Never Too Late To Graduate
News – Live Special Events
- CBC Toronto – Blue Jays in the World Series
- CityNews Toronto – CityVotes: Ontario Election 2025
- Global News Toronto – Global News: Decision Ontario 2025
- CTV News Montreal – Quebec municipal elections 2025
Opinion
- CBC News Montreal – 40 years later, Air India bombing still marks victim’s loved ones
TV Newscast (Large Market)
- CityNews Toronto – CityNews at 5 & 6
- CTV News Toronto – CTV News at Six
- CBC Toronto – Richmond Hill Deadly Daycare Crash
- CTV News Ottawa – TV Newscast
TV Newscast (Small/Medium Market)
- CTV News Kitchener – CTV Kitchener: Shooting, “Brazen Crooks”, Distraction Thefts and Cruzin’ at the Pond
- CTV News Windsor – CTV Windsor 6pm Newscast September 18, 2025
- CTV News Barrie – State of Emergency: Unprecedented Action in the City of Barrie
VJ Video
- CTV News Toronto – “Scoopy Poo”
Noovo Info Estrie – Bye bye le stress, l’hypothèque»: dans les bottes des pêcheurs sportifs - CTV News Montreal – Digging up the past – in the Cree Nation of Chisasibi
- CityNews Toronto – Photographer with Down syndrome breaking barriers