Awards Description

The RTNDA Ron Laidlaw Award goes to the station offering the best continuing coverage of a story. It was named after the man who chose to complete his career exactly 45 years after he started it. which, in the opinion of the judges, displays excellence in the coverage of a special event (ie. elections, funerals, etc.).

Ron began his journalistic career in 1937 as a freelance reporter and photographer for several newspapers, and three years later joined the London Free Press photography department.

In 1941, Ron became a true "front line" photographer with the RCAF and was among the first during the Liberation of Paris. After the war, he was back in the photo department at the Frees Press.

In 1953, it was a challenge he couldn't refuse. As CFPL-TV was being launched, Ron was asked to set up the newsroom. He remained the station's only news director until his retirement in 1985. In addition to guiding the CFPL-TV newsroom as a dominant force in the industry, there were many "firsts" under Ron's guidance.

CFPL Television was one of the first stations in Canada to expand a newscast to 30 minutes, and later, to establish an hour-long evening newscast. It was also the first private station to charge advertisers a premium rate for buying time to sponsor a newscast, and the first to convert to color. And only months before his retirement, Ron Laidlaw saw CFPL-TV become the first private Canadian television station to embark on computerization of its newsroom.

Ron also recognized the need for industry-wide standards and was instrumental in organizing the Canadian branch of the Radio Television News Directors Association, and became its second president in 1965. And twenty years later he would receive the President's Award.

This is a regional and network award.
Maximum length - 15 minutes