RTDNA Canada Announces 2026 Central Region Award Winners

Toronto, ON (September 24, 2026) 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 news gathering organizations in audio, digital and video.

Congratulations to the winners for their excellent work!

Lifetime Achievement Awards Presented to:

The RTDNA Canada 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to individuals who have distinguished themselves through outstanding service and continued excellence during the course of their careers in audio, digital and/or video journalism. Congratulations to those being honoured this year!

  • Donald Daynard, “Dazzling Don Daynard” Radio Host 
  • Alec Gordon, CBC, Quebec
  • Duanne Worth Camerman, CHCH Hamilton
  • Robert Fisher News Anchor, CBC Radio

2026 RTDNA Awards Central Region Winners

AUDIO

Best Podcast

  • CBC Montreal – This is Montreal: Can you hear me now?  

Breaking News (Large Market) 

  • CBC Montreal – Missing Toddler Found Alive After Desperate Search 

Breaking News (Small/Medium Market) 

  • AM800 CKLW – Diageo to close Crown Royal bottling plant in Amherstburg 

Excellence in Editing

  • CBC Toronto – Jerusalem Youth Chorus: ‘Being One Voice’

Excellence in Sports Reporting

  • CBC Ottawa – Hockey and hijabs: New to Canada and the sport, these girls have found their game

Feature News (Large Market)  

  • CBC Toronto – Volunteer pallbearers bury unclaimed body

Feature News (Small/Medium Market)

  • CBC Sudbury – The Magic of Horsecraft

News – Live Special Events 

  • CBC Montreal – CBC News: Quebec Votes Municipal 2025

Opinion 

  • CBC Ottawa – CBC Ontario Today: Shoplifting through the eyes of the shoplifter 

Radio Newscast (Large Market)

  • CBC Montreal – CBC Montreal Radio News November 27, 2025

Radio Newscast (Small/Medium Market) 

  • 570 NewsRadio 8am Newscast  

DIGITAL

Breaking News (Large Market) 

  • CBC News Montreal – Organized crime figure dead, 2 others injured in shooting at Laval Starbucks 

Excellence in Data Storytelling 

  • CBC Ottawa – Two-thirds of Ontario school boards in deficit or just breaking even 

Excellence in Social 

  • CBC News Montreal – Understanding the impact of tariffs and the trade war 

Excellence in Sports Reporting 

  • CBC News Montreal – Every NHL jersey is made in Canada, but U.S. tariffs could change that  

Feature News (Large Market) 

  • CBC Toronto – Police in Ejaz Choudry death identified

Feature News (Small/Medium Market)  

  • CBC Quebec – This Quebec man is losing his voice. An AI tool is helping bring it back to life  

News – Live Special Events

Opinion

  • CBC News Montreal – I didn’t vote for 21 years. Trump’s attacks on my homeland and Canada changed everything

Overall Excellence in Digital 

  • CBC Ottawa – A piece of home  

MULTIPLATFORM

Continuing Coverage (Large Market) 

  • CTV News Toronto – Blue Jays Playoff Coverage 

Continuing Coverage (Small/Medium Market)

  • CBC Thunder Bay – Bringing Percy Home: First Nation family repatriates ancestor’s remains

Enterprise Journalism (Large Market) 

  •  CBC Toronto – Gridlocked: The Way Out

Enterprise Journalism (Small/Medium Market) 

  •  CTV News Barrie – Eyes in the Darkness: the Hidden Cost of Roadside Zoos 

Excellence in Innovation 

  •  CBC Ottawa – Still Positive 

Excellence in Writing (Large Market) 

  •  CBC Ottawa – St. Pius shooting, 50 years later

Excellence in Writing (Small/Medium Market)  

  •  CTV News Barrie – Eyes in the Darkness: the Hidden Cost of Roadside Zoos 

Investigative Excellence  

  •  CBC News Montreal – The rise and fall of Canada’s alleged grandparent scam king

VIDEO

Audio-Visual Storytelling

  • Rogers tv Sault Ste Marie – Misko-Mjigodenh – The Red Dress

Breaking News (Large Market)  

  • Global News Toronto – Delta plane crashes at Pearson airport, multiple people injured  

Breaking News (Small/Medium Market) 

  • CTV News Barrie – Double-Murder: Uncovering the Horror in the City’s Core 

Excellence in Camera Work

  • CBC News Montreal – Montreal A to V: Go deep inside this hidden cave in Saint-Léonard

Excellence in Editing  

  • CBC Ottawa – His abuela fled Chile after the coup. Now he’s telling her story 

Excellence in Sports Reporting 

  • CBC News Montreal – Does Quebec City stand a chance at a pro hockey team?   

Excellence in Video  

  • CBC Ottawa – Spilling the chai  

Feature News (Large Market) 

  • CBC News Montreal – The Youppi! story — from Muppet DNA to a hold on Montreal’s heart

Feature News (Small/Medium Market)  

  • CHCH News Hamilton – Core Patrol and Open Drug Use in Hamilton  

News – Live Special Events  

  • CBC Toronto – Blue Jays in the World Series 

Opinion 

  • CBC News Montreal – 40 years later, Air India bombing still marks victim’s loved ones  

TV Newscast (Large Market) 

  • CTV News Toronto – CTV News at Six

TV Newscast (Small/Medium Market) 

  • CTV News Barrie – State of Emergency: Unprecedented Action in the City of Barrie

VJ Video  

  • CTV News Montreal – Digging up the past – in the Cree Nation of Chisasibi
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