Contemporary News won the 1970 Gordon H. Love Award.

​​​​​​"In 1970, CHUM and Paul Akehurst on its behalf, were recognized in national news award competitions for their work on a story of international intrigue that had been previously broken by the Ottawa Bureau of the Canadian Contemporary News System (CCNS) network across Canada.

CCNS correspondents Paul Akehurst from Parliament Hill, and Art Lewis reporting from a related trial in San Francisco, unfolded the "Sicotte Affair" exclusively over several weeks in early 1969.

The complex drama involved suggestions of fraud, improprieties within the Canadian senior civil service, potential risks to national security, drug-smuggling and even of murder. Reports covered curious activities in Mexico, Texas, California, New York, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Austria and Switzerland.

The CCNS stories with their many dramatic angles became an ongoing issue in the House of Commons with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Deputy PM Paul Hellyer answering Opposition questions week after week. A Royal Commission of Inquiry was demanded but rejected. The national media eventually covered the story extensively and Time Magazine ran an in-depth feature. In the end, a key player went to jail and others left sensitive senior positions."