The Toronto Star imaging team won an award from the World Association of WAN IFRA News Publishers in the special editions category for their Canada Day mosaic, consisting of more than 3,000 photos.
The award was given to the team for their mosaic Canada Day portrait. It consisted of more than 3,000 photos selected from more than 7,000 photos archived by Star photographers since the newsroom was closed on stay-at-home orders by COVID-19 on March 17, 2020. The cover illustrated the teacher’s portrait from Toronto Meradith Black wearing a medical mask designed by the Canadian flag.
“The Star photography team wanted to do something special for Canada Day (2020), using as many photos as possible that we took during the pandemic, especially of frontline workers, so their sacrifice is not forgotten.” said Star images. editor Taras Slawnych.
The visual team includes its five photographers, Steve Russell, Richard Lautens, René Johnston, Rick Madonik and Andrew Wallace, as well as video producer Kelsey Wilson, photo editor Tim Finlan and image editor Taras Slawnych.
According to Slawnych, the mosaic portrait consisted of shots of the deserted Toronto Star newsroom and the streets of Toronto at the start of the pandemic. It also included portraits of front-line workers; the ballet dancer who taught a virtual class for Star readers; Gorillas, baby giraffes, and lemurs at the Toronto Zoo; and the Toronto Symphony musicians who improvised to see exclusive music videos and photos of the city beginning to reopen.
Slawnych especially thanked Bob Bishop who designed the cover and thanked former editor Irene Gentle for believing in the project.
The Star’s visuals team was one of 40 entries in five categories.
Reference-www.thestar.com