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Photo: Ryan Wilkes / The Narwhal

The Narwhal’s response to the Facebook news ban in Canada has earned us an award nomination

The Institute for Nonprofit News has recognized our efforts to double down on our direct relationship with readers amid turbulent times for journalism in this country

We probably don’t have to tell you: the past year has been a pretty wild one for the news industry in Canada. 

Last summer, when the Canadian government passed the Online News Act, Meta and Google both threatened to block all news content for users in our country. Instead of panicking, we saw an opportunity to start building more direct relationships with our audience.

Those efforts turned out to be pretty successful: thousands of you signed up for our newsletter and hundreds became members of The Narwhal.

Now, we’ve earned an INNovator Award nomination from the Institute for Nonprofit News, a network of more than 450 independent news organizations, including only a handful of Canadian members. 

The award, which we’re nominated for alongside Documented NY, recognizes work that has a positive financial impact on a newsroom and will help serve its community or audience into the future.

It’s a thrill to be nominated — an acknowledgement of how we can find ways to not only survive, but thrive, as a sustainable news organization in turbulent times.

And with social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram now permanently blocking news in Canada, and the growing concerns around Google search traffic in the wake of its AI push, the lessons we’ve learned about strengthening connections with readers and members are proving invaluable (stay tuned for more engagement efforts on that front!).

Thank you, Narwhals, for reading and supporting our independent journalism.

More ways you can stay connected with The Narwhal

Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?
Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?

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Your access to our journalism is free — always. Sign up for our weekly newsletter for investigative reporting on the natural world in Canada you won’t find anywhere else.
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Your access to our journalism is free — always. Sign up for our weekly newsletter for investigative reporting on the natural world in Canada you won’t find anywhere else.
'This is not a paywall' text illustration, in a reddish-pink font colour