Randy Richmond’s lively history of the City of Orillia has won an Orillia Museum of Art & History Award. The illustrated history book The Orillia Spirit won in the category Historical Publications and/or Research. The award was presented in a ceremony at the Museum on November 9.

Told through the stories of its people and rich with historical detail and local colour, The Orillia Spirit brings to life the community’s heritage and significance. Something about Orillia has always inspired its people to reach for their dreams. Turn-of-the-twentieth-century leaders coined the phrase “the Orillia Spirit” to describe their drive to make the town a social, moral, and economic leader of Canada. The results have been comic, tragic, and heroic, as shown in this colourful history of Orillia.

Randy Richmond is an award-winning journalist living in London, Ontario. He is the former editor of The Packet & Times in Orillia, where he wrote the first edition of The Orillia Spirit, married, and had three children.

About the OMAH History Awards

The OMAH History Awards, presented by the Orillia Museum of Art & History Awards and the History Committee, are offered biennially (starting in 2015), for historical research or heritage presentation involving Orillia and area.