BBOT Recognizes Freshet News for Small Business Excellence

The Burnaby Board of Trade is proud to recognize Freshet News (FRESH-uht) as the inaugural recipient of the BC Chamber of Commerce Small Business Excellence Award for Burnaby. As part of the Chamber's Small Business Week celebrations, the award recognizes small businesses across British Columbia that demonstrate excellence and make meaningful contributions to their communities. 

When three local news outlets closed in April 2025, four veteran journalists saw a need to keep local journalism alive. Having worked at the Burnaby NOW, New Westminster Record and Tri-City News, the team went on to establish Freshet News in October 2025, creating a new source of independent local reporting for Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities. 

Today, Freshet News serves a growing community of approximately 700,000 residents, businesses and organizations through a twice-monthly newspaper distributed by volunteers, a website, a Friday podcast and a Sunday newsletter. As Western Canada's first non-profit news co-operative with union support, Freshet News takes a different approach to delivering local news while ensuring the stories that matter to its communities continue to be told. 

BBOT selected Freshet News in recognition of the team's initiative and commitment to their community. When local news coverage was at risk, they took the initiative to build something new, investing their own time, energy and resources to ensure their communities continued to have access to local reporting. Their work reflects the entrepreneurial spirit, resilience and community contribution that the award celebrates. 

Congratulations to the Freshet News team on this well-deserved recognition! 

To learn more about Freshet news and the founders visit: https://www.freshetnews.ca/about-us/