Pratt inducted into OCNA Hall of Fame

Grant Haven Media publisher Stewart Grant announces Bill Pratt’s induction into the OCNA Hall of Fame.

Chris Abbott

Editor

On March 18, the Ontario Community Newspapers Association announced Bill Pratt (1928-2025) was one its four 2026 Hall of Fame Inductees. On April 24, they made it official at the OCNA Independent Publishers' Retreat and Awards Dinner in Collingwood.

The OCNA Hall of Fame recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made exemplary contributions to Ontario’s community newspapers. Inductees are respected community news professionals who have remained passionate about the industry throughout challenges, opportunities and changes. They are leaders who have helped community newspapers adapt and grow.

Bill Pratt, from Courtland, was one of those individuals. A man who loved his community, and his community loved him.

Nominated posthumously for the OCNA Hall of Fame recognition by The Tillsonburg Post and Grant Haven Media, Pratt mentored generations of journalists, many crediting him with shaping their careers.

Named Tillsonburg Citizen of the Year in 1980, an honour his wife Marion shared in 2012, Bill received the Paul Harris Fellow Award, the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee awards, the Confederation Medal, and the Holland/Canada Medal for his service to the community.

Bill and Marion were the inspiration for the Pratt Gallery at Annandale National Historic Site. He was involved in the startup of the Tillsonburg Multi-Service Centre, ANHS, the Colin Campbell Community Arena ice pad, the kidney dialysis unit at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital, Theatre Tillsonburg, the Tillsonburg Campus of Fanshawe College, the Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce, the Tillsonburg Air Show, the Tillsonburg Community Centre, the addition to TDMH, and the Tillsonburg Seniors’ Centre.

He was a co-founder of the Tillsonburg Great Ride ‘n’ Stride fundraiser in 1969, one year after the event originated in nearby Thamesford.

"Forty-five years," said Pratt in 2014, one of the originals who helped Bob and Madge Montgomery in the fight against cancer.

The Great Ride ‘n’ Stride in Tillsonburg raised nearly $600,000 in its first 49 years and Pratt was its driving force, often the event’s top individual fundraiser. He had won the trophy for top individual fundraiser for the 31st time in the 38 years since the trophy was first presented.

"I didn't know if I was going to make it or not," Pratt had joked that year, completing his walk a day earlier, adding with a laugh, "I take my camera with me so when I'm tired, I stop and act like I want to take a picture."

As editor/partner of Otter Publishing, Bill served as President of both the OCNA and the CCNA (Canadian Community Newspaper Association). As noted in his obituary, he felt it was his “duty to publicize and support people and their efforts to make good things happen."

Bill had graduated with a degree in journalism in 1950. He started his full-time career as a reporter for The Tillsonburg News after graduation, and took on the role of editor two years later in a newspaper career that spanned some 40 years.

“One of the duties he cherished, and detested, was writing the lead editorial for the Tillsonburg editions,” said former Mayor and Tillsonburg News publisher Cam McKnight.

“Unfailingly, as the deadline approached, Bill - with a cigar burning in his office ashtray - would be pounding on his old typewriter searching for the words to encourage or admonish Tillsonburg residents and municipal leaders,” said McKnight. “He would put the News’ editorial sway, and it was considerable in those days, either behind or against local affairs and explain his reasoning for it.”

Expanding on Pratt’s influence, McKnight said, “Bill had the unique ability of being able to make his point without making an enemy. That trait followed him beyond just the newspaper arena and allowed him to influence many major projects in this town.”

Decades after retiring, Pratt continued to take photos at annual town events, sharing them with the local newspaper and the community.

Canada Day at the Station Arts Centre and ANHS? He was there! Remembrance Day? He was at the cenotaph, some years both as photographer and laying a wreath. Turtlefest? Every single year.

“He was just a super, super person,” said former Tillsonburg Mayor John Armstrong. “The term gentleman applied to him to the ‘nth degree. He was so involved in the community and did everything with taste and finesse.”