showing 1 to 10 of 37
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Best Activist
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner El Jones
Silver Winner Carly Sutherland
Bronze Winner Rana Zaman
There really are no losers in the Best Activist category. A single individual calling for change; a single act of resistance means just as much, can have just as much impact, is just as brave as all those fighting the good fight. Which is not to undercut the sheer volume of inspirational labour El Jones continues to do for this city. The Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Study at Mount Saint Vincent University has spent another year speaking out against racism in the Maritimes and fighting against injustices like Canada’s failure of Abdoul Abdi and the prison conditions inside Central Nova. Jones takes home her fourth straight win as Best Activist in Halifax but she shares it with a city full of strong hearts. Winners, all.
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Best Activist Organization
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Youth Project
Silver Winner Autism Nova Scotia
Bronze Winner YWCA Halifax
Hall of fame Ecology Action Centre
Update: Around late October 2018, when the Best of Halifax issue was going to press, the Youth Project was dealing with personnel issues—including a workplace harassment complaint—and its programming was in flux. This uncertain situation became the focus of the Youth Project's BOH citation, which you can see in the paragraph below. A few weeks later, however, the Youth Project told us an external review found that the complaint was baseless, and as of this writing many events are being offered on the organization's website. Although BOH write-ups are intended to be snapshots of a moment in time and we don't make a habit of changing them (because with hundreds of dynamic winners, where would you stop?), we feel this update is warranted to provide some closure. For more information, here is our news story about the situation, "Harassment complaint against Youth Project executive director unfounded, investigation concludes."
Well, this is awkward. In the days leading up to this issue, news broke that the executive director of the Youth Project has been suspended pending an external investigation into “workplace environment and office culture.” A public statement on the LGBTQ+
non profit’s website says all workshops and internal programming are also cancelled for the next two months. Meanwhile, an “extraordinary general meeting” will be held November 24 at the Glitter Bean Cafe. -
Best Athlete
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Ellie Black
Silver Winner Jill Saulnier
Bronze Winner Courtney Baker
Canada’s greatest gymnast vaults to another first-place finish atop a podium of all-female candidates in this year’s competition for Best Athlete. Black’s accomplishments are too many to name, but nonetheless worth noting. This year, she was honoured as the youngest inclusion in the provincial Sport Hall of Fame’s Top 15 Athletes in Nova Scotian History. Black came in ranked number 12 of all time, even at the young age of 22, and as one of only three honourees still actively competing. The two-time Olympian isn’t showing any signs of slowing down either, having recently won gold at the World Challenge Cup. She’s joined by Olympian and team Canada hockey star, Saulnier and Dalhousie volleyball standout and national team player, Baker.
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Best Blogger
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Arthur Gaudreau, Halifax ReTales
Silver Winner Kate Ross, Halifax Noise
Bronze Winner Kayla Short, Short Presents
Gaudreau—the brains behind the ubiquitous Halifax ReTales brand—and not just because he’s picked up a repeat win as Best Blogger. Earlier this fall, ReTales also made the transition to print media. Gaudreau has partnered with the Chronicle Herald for a newspaper version of his popular weekly web updates on Halifax’s openings, closings and other sundry business items. The man himself also got married this year. All told, not too shabby of a 2018.
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Best Bus Driver
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Brenda Giffin
Silver Winner Stephen O'Quinn
Bronze Winner Jill Webb
Three decades ago, Brenda Giffin was a truck driver in the military with a two-year-old and no desire to be posted away from her baby. “Family was more important to me,” she says. “The only thing I could do was drive, so I said, ‘Let’s try transit.’” For 27 years—27 accident-free years, she points out—Giffin has been driving around Halifax and spoiling her regulars—like the passengers on her favourite route, the 22. “They didn’t even have to ring the bell. I knew where all of them lived.” Once, upon learning one of her regulars had never had a birthday party, Giffin enlisted the other passengers to decorate the bus with balloons and a cake ahead of the stop where the 60-year-old woman was waiting. The city’s Best Bus Driver is set to retire in eight months; her gold win in this category a well-earned going-away present from her fans.
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Best Community Project
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Hope Blooms
Silver Winner Feed Nova Scotia
Bronze Winner Common Roots Urban Farm
There’s a riot of giggling noises as Jessie Jollymore answers the phone, struggling to be heard over the din. The executive director at Hope Blooms is in the midst of a product launch planning meeting with some of the organization’s younger entrepreneurs, a group of girls under 12. “The older youth do the dressing and their younger siblings and some younger kids wanted to know about making something from nothing and about putting some good into the world.” To start, the all-girls group is launching a hibiscus tea with notes of blueberry that features fair-trade leaves harvested by single mothers in Senegal. While the brew hits shelves mid-November, Hope Blooms is keeping busy with other initiatives like a book launch on November 20 and a mentoring system that’ll help other youth groups build their own community gardens and small businesses. “We want to turn the product into doing good,” Jollymore adds.
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Best Councillor
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Lindell Smith
Silver Winner Waye Mason
Bronze Winner Sam Austin
The councillor disputes these rankings, for the record. Smith assumed the winners would go Sam Austin in first place, Waye Mason for silver and then, maybe, himself. Don’t get him wrong. He’s “100 percent grateful and thankful” to all the people who voted for him and “everyone who’s been patient with me as a councillor in learning the ropes” over the past two years. But Smith says he’s tried to keep a semi-low profile over the past 12 months as he gets ready for the second explosive half of his first term. Hopefully come the next re-election, he adds, if his residents want to see him come back he can let loose and have a little more fun with the often Sisyphean slog of municipal governance.
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Best Sports League
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Anchor City Rollers
Silver Winner HSSC: Halifax Sport & Social Club
Bronze Winner Metro Senior Women's Soccer League
Pardon the pun, but Anchor City has been on a roll this past year. The derby league started a junior program for young athletes ages eight to 18, doubled its home teams from two to four and held multi-purpose derby bouts featuring food truck parties and 50-50 draws for local community groups. They also joined the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s apprenticeship program, meaning the local A-team will be competing at a higher, WFTDA-certified level, says spokesperson Kaarina Mikalson. “And hopefully, eventually going to competitions across the world.”
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Best Drag Performer
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Elle Noir
Silver Winner Bridget Von Snaps
Bronze Winner Farrah Moan
Hall of fame Rouge Fatale
When, after days of trying to connect for an interview, Chris Cochrane’s intense schedule finally allows a phone call, the makeup artist, actor and drag performer is understandably exhausted. Fresh off the set from Stage Mother—a Thom Fitzgerald-directed flick dropping next year that has Cochrane on deck as makeup artist, actor, and trans and drag consultant—Cochrane is full of thoughts about why she snagged gold. “What sets me apart is that I’m very diverse. All the new queens wanna be Beyonce and Britney but you gotta know the older girls like Tina and Cher,” she says, adding she makes all of her own costumes and is the only trans drag performer east of Montreal. Asked if that’s ever been limiting, Cochrane says no. “People will say ‘Let’s put Elle Noir in the show, she’s everything.’ With the climate we’re in, it’s great to see people like me at the forefront,” Cochrane continues, before adding she’d like to thank her fans for “being with me through the hard times, the easy times and for propelling me to who I wanna be.”
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Best Student Hang
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Halifax Central Library
Silver Winner Coburg Coffee
Bronze Winner Gorsebrook Lounge
Halifax Central Library’s manager Sharon Haley-Mancini says that when the planning began for the jewel in Halifax Library’s crown began, every detail was thought of. “There are so many things that make this place remarkable: It’s a beautiful, architectural space, there’s light and openness, it’s welcoming, all the spaces are free and accessible,” she lists. As for what makes the Spring Garden Road spot the best student hang? “My daughter is in university, and she uses the space,” she says, praising the flexibility of being able to socialize, get coffee and also lock in on some serious studying all in one spot. “It’s a space for everyone—a space to make noise, linger and connect.”
