Backcountry Magazine editor, writer and photographer Drew Pogge's feature "The Ghost Coast: Labrador's Torngat Mountains," (December, 2009 Backcountry) was recently awarded first place in the independent journalist category of the 14th Annual Northern Lights Awards... , presented by the Canadian Media Market. The competition was independently evaluated by faculty of the prestigious Missouri School of Journalism, and the judges had this to say about the winning piece:
"This is a masterfully-crafted story that merges two tales: that of the first winter visitors to Labrador's Torngat Mountains National Park, Canada's newest National Park, and the history and injustice leveled against the Inuit people who once made their home there. It is difficult to combine such seemingly different information into one story, but writer Drew Pogge does it seamlessly, shifting from scenes of the past that explain how the Inuit survived in this harsh atmosphere, to the present, as Pogge and his small group of winter adventurers ski these unexplored slopes. In one section he describes an encounter with a polar bear hunting seals and in another, he converses with Inuit elders who recount tales of life before and after they were forced from their land in 1959. Unimaginable beauty is contrasted against incredible injustice in one exciting story."
The award will be presented on April 13 in San Francisco. Last year's winning entry was written by acclaimed journalist Wayne Curtis, for a feature appearing in The Atlantic.
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