ASA Board Member Carson Murphy presents the Alan D. Ridge Award of Merit (Print) to Archives Executive Director Alyssa Currie and Archivist Josephine Sallis (Right)

By Shaun Penner

Telling Our Stories

South Peace Regional Archives earns provincial recognition for magazine

Jun 9, 2019 | 7:00 AM

The South Peace Regional Archives have received some provincial recognition.

The Society’s magazine Telling Our Stories was awarded the Alan D. Ridge Award of Merit for Print from the Archives Society of Alberta. The award is given out annually to recognize excellence in research, opinion and analysis through the management and use of archival records.

ASA had named them the winner at its AGM on May 25 in Banff, but no member of SPRA was in attendance. So, they came to the Swan City with a surprise.

“We found out by an ASA Board member coming to the Archives to formally present the award last week, on the 31^st,” said Executive Director Alyssa Currie. “We’re very excited. Every issue of the magazine, we receive positive feedback from our readers, but it is really rewarding to be recognized now on the provincial level.”

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The Alan D. Ridge Award of Merit (Print) presented to the South Peace Regional Archives for Telling Our Stories (Photo: SPRA)

The magazine is a quarterly magazine that highlights content and resources from the Archives’ collection, plus submissions from staff, volunteers and members of the public. The issues from its award-winning 2018 collection include:

• Timeless Love: Weddings of the South Peace (March)
• National Indigenous History Month (June)
• South Peace Fish and Game (September)
• International Travels (December)

Before there was a magazine, Telling Our Stories was published as a newsletter, beginning in 2009. In the fall of 2017, though, that transitioned to a magazine as the Archives were wanting to reach a wider audience. Currie says that makes the award a resounding validation for the Archives’ decision to switch to its new format.

To be eligible for the award, publications are nominated by readers anonymously. Though the SPRA are still unsure of who it was that nominated them, they were able to see the nomination comments, which stated that it is a “high quality publication” and that it is “an inspiration to other heritage institutions in our network and is what many others aspire to achieve”.

“To hear that and know that we were nominated and selected from, I’m sure, a group of very worthy candidates was really rewarding for us,” said Currie.

Telling Our Stories is free to the public to read at the Archives, or on its website. You can also become a member and receive a copy in the mail. Memberships cost $20 for the year, or $30 for couples.

“We have a really rich local history here in the South Peace area, and I think this magazine is one opportunity to reflect critically on that history.”