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INSIDE Acton skating carnival provides a reason to get bent out of shape Employing a move that would make a contortionist proud, Krystyn Turco and Kyle Marshall of the Acton Skating Club performed The First Dance at the Acton Skating Club's annual year-end show Saturday. The 42nd carnival was entitled A Few of My Favourite Things and featured performances that boasted a wedding theme, a tribute to hockey and Christmas among others. Read all about it! We're Ontario's top newspaper The Independent & Free Press captured its second major newspaper award of the year Saturday night when it placed first place in the Ontario Community Newspapers Association general excellence category. The Independent & Free Press, which has a circulation of 21,200, won Class 5 for newspapers with a circulation between 12,500 and 24,999. A total of 18 newspapers were entered in the class. The Northumberland News placed second and Clarington This Week was third at the OCNA's 2005 awards ceremony held at the Toronto Airport Renaissance Hotel. According to the judges, The Independent & Free Press offered "well thought out presentation, good newshole and consistently good layout throughout. Excellent use of colour by both editorial and advertising". The class was judged by an editor of a community paper in Calgary, a journalism professor at Miramichi College in New Brunswick and a community newspaper editor in southwestern Ontario. Earlier this year The Independent & Free Press won a Suburban Newspapers of America award for best special section for its Spring 2005 edition of Sideroads Address FRIDAY... · A group of Halton farmers are heading to Ottawa today for a mass protest on Parliament Hill. Look for a full report in Friday's edition. of Halton Hills. "This is a great achievement for the entire staff from advertising to editorial to composing," said Independent & Free Press publisher Ken Nugent. "It's always an honour to be recognized by our peers in the newspaper industry. "Our readers and advertisers in Georgetown and Acton deserve the best community newspaper possible," added Nugent. "It would have been easy to rest on our laurels knowing we had been nominated for this award but we chose to redesign the paper last month because we knew we could make a great paper even better." Former Independent & Free Press staff member Herb Garbutt placed second in the OCNA competition for best sports photo.