CBC Edmonton wins national RTDNA award for breaking coverage of Alberta book ban
The newsroom's breaking-news work on the province's school library order took the large-market category.
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Edmonton public school officials first planned to pull more than 200 titles from library shelves, including The Handmaid's Tale. CBC Edmonton's breaking online coverage of that ban won the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Canada award for best local news in Canada, presented at a gala in Toronto Saturday night.
The award goes to the organization, in a large market, that displayed the most enterprise and creativity in reporting an unscheduled, breaking event. It covers work produced in 2025.
The ban targeted sexually explicit materials after members of a parental rights group flagged four graphic novels. The plan also proposed age restrictions on novels like 1984 and The Great Gatsby. The government revised the legislation to focus on works with visual depictions, rather than classical literature in which a sexual act is vaguely described.
CBC Edmonton managing editor Sarah O'Donnell said in a statement: "Breaking news coverage is the heart of our work. This award is deeply meaningful, as it recognizes the crucial role our journalists play in keeping Albertans informed about the real world impact of government policy changes."
The newsroom took the Prairie region RTDNA in the same category last month and was a finalist in six other national categories.
