Meet the 10-year-old columnist at the Eganville Leader

Fred Hillyer, 10, is the new columnist at the Eganville Leader in the Ottawa Valley. (Shaun Vardon/CTV News Ottawa)

Fred Hillyer is not your typical 10-year-old.

Along with schoolwork, hobbies and church, he’s now the newest and youngest columnist at the Eganville Leader.

His biweekly column called “Inside Fred’s World” offers his hometown of Eganville and the Ottawa Valley a unique take on the world.

Hillyer can write about whatever interests him and although it can be a lot of work, he hopes his young views will make people think.

“I want to be able to tell the world these days through a kid’s eye,” Hillyer said. “I make a list on Google Docs on my Chromebook and when I am done with that list, the next day I write the column. Like this one, I had to make it like 530 words; it was kind of overwhelming.”

His first column was his introduction to the community. His newest is about his family’s piano, which has been passed down for five generations. Hillyer plans on interviewing the mayor and fire chief and other interesting people around town. His interests are wide and varied, focused on all his hometown has to offer.

The Eganville Leader has been part of the Ottawa Valley for more than 120 years. When it was put up for sale in 2024, there were fears it would not survive, but when new owners were found, Hillyer knew he wanted to be part of it. The paper’s publisher, Gerald Tracey, ran into Hillyer in church a few weeks ago and after talking to Hillyer decided to offer him the opportunity to write for the Leader.

“When we introduced him in the April 22 edition, people were actually excited to see someone that young with that kind of an interest,” Tracey said. “I know he is going to resonate well with our readers.”

Hillyer’s mom says Fred has been interested in the news since he was three. CTV and CNN are his favorite channels but reading the newspaper became a habit since he learned to read.

“It’s pretty exciting; it’s not something you see every day a kid getting to write for a paper,” Ashley Hillyer said. “I hope he sticks with it and that we are looking at a couple of years I think he’s got lots of stories to tell.’

While Fred Hillyer is currently the youngest at the paper, the Eganville Leader actually had a columnist who made it into the world record books for being the oldest weekly news columnist in the world.

Ninety-six-year-old Al Donohue recently retired after more than a decade of writing his column “An Old Man’s View.”

Whether it’s the oldest or the youngest writers, the Eganville Leader is a paper that brings generations together. For Hillyer, there is nothing like it.

“Ever since 1902 the Eganville Leader has been making its people happy or sad or somewhere in between, it feels really important to a kid like me from Eganville.”

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