Canadian Press wins CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism

The Canadian Press is the winner of the CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism in the large media category, for its “Open Secret” series exploring sexual trauma involving children in Indigenous communities. Accepting the award (from left to right) at the CJF Awards in Toronto: Heather Scoffield, Ottawa bureau chief; Andrea Baillie, managing editor; Kristy Kirkup, national affairs reporter; and Sheryl Ubelacker, health reporter. (CNW Group/Canadian Journalism Foundation)

TORONTO, June 8, 2017 /CNW/ - The Canadian Press (CP) is this year's recipient of the CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism in the large-media category, presented at the annual Canadian Journalism Foundation Awards. Its compelling "Open Secret" series explored sexual trauma involving children in Indigenous communities, an issue rarely acknowledged in public policy circles but is considered to be closely intertwined with other Indigenous challenges related to residential schools, murdered and missing women, and youth suicides. Among the CP stories of note:
"Open secret: sexual abuse haunts children in Indigenous communities;"
"Solving the legacy of Indigenous sexual abuse: think globally, act nationally;" and
"Indigenous sexual abuse likely to dominate inquiry into murdered, missing women."

"By 'openly reporting' on the 'open secret' of child abuse in Indigenous communities, The Canadian Press provided what is needed most: validation and acknowledgment for victims - the first step to healing and breaking the cycle of abuse," said jury member Isabel Bassett, former TVO Chair and CEO.

Named after CJF founder Eric Jackman, this annual award honours an organization that embodies exemplary journalistic standards and practices with a resulting positive impact on the community it serves. The other finalists in the large media category were CBC News Vancouver, Global News, The Globe and Mail and Winnipeg Free Press. 

In the small-media category, The London Free Press won the CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism for "Indiscernible," a series exposing serious problems in Ontario's justice and mental-health-care systems, as well as in local policing and health care, as seen through the lens of a man who died in solitary confinement at a detention centre. CBC Thunder Bay, The Coast (Halifax), Discourse Media (Vancouver-based) and Metro Toronto were also finalists.

La Presse won the CJF Innovation Award, which recognizes creative new approaches to advance the quality of journalism. In 2013, La Presse sought to secure its future by developing La Presse+, a platform for a free tablet-driven daily newspaper model. In 2016, as a result of La Presse+'s success, the newspaper ended its weekday print edition, making La Presse the first daily in the world to become fully digital during the week. More than 270,000 people consult La Presse+ daily, far more than its 1971 print peak of 221,250 copies. As the recipient, La Presse receives $10,000 thanks to the generous support of award sponsor Chevrolet.

The sold-out CJF Awards event was attended by more than 600 journalists, media executives and business leaders from across the country at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. Lyse Doucet, BBC's chief international correspondent and senior presenter for BBC World TV and BBC World Service Radio, was the host.

Among the evening's other award winners:

• The CJF-CBC Indigenous Journalism Fellowships aim to foster better comprehension of Indigenous issues in Canada's major media and community outlets. The awards are offered to two Indigenous journalists with one-to-10 years experience, who spend a month at CBC News's Indigenous Centre in Winnipeg. This year's fellows are Julian Brave NoiseCat and Lenard Monkman. Brave NoiseCat, an enrolled member of Canim Lake Band Tsq'escen and a descendant of Lil'Wat Nation, both in British Columbia, is a New York-based freelance writer. His proposal involves covering the annual Tribal Canoe Journey as a window into issues of cultural resurgence, transnational Indigenous connection and political struggle. The journey, different every year, brings together Indigenous communities from throughout the United States and Canadian Pacific Northwest. For his part, Monkman, an Anishinaabe journalist from Lake Manitoba First Nation, will cover a three-day cultural camp in Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park and report on the ceremonies' meaning for Indigenous people. The fellowships are supported by the RBC Foundation, CN, CJF honorary governor Rosemary Speirs and Isabel Bassett, former Chair and CEO of TVO.
  
  
• The Landsberg Award, presented in association with the Canadian Women's Foundation, celebrates a journalist giving greater profile to women's equality issues. Named after noted journalist and social activist Michele Landsberg, the award comes with a $5,000 prize. Tavia Grant, a reporter with The Globe and Mail, was selected for a body of work that included exploring the ongoing gender pay gap and how Indigenous women are disproportionately affected by human trafficking in her series "Missing and Murdered: The Trafficked."
  
  
• The Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy provides a seasoned Canadian journalist with $100,000 and an opportunity to pursue a year-long investigation into a current policy issue. It is sponsored by the Atkinson Foundation, the Toronto Star and the Honderich family. This year's recipient is Tanya Talaga, a reporter with the Toronto Star, who will investigate the alarming rates of youth suicide in Indigenous communities across Canada.
  
  
• The Greg Clark Award, sponsored by Shaw Communications and the Toronto Star, provides the opportunity for an early-career journalist to explore an issue in depth for one week. Winner Jennifer Bieman, a reporter with the St. Thomas Times-Journal, is exploring how the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshall and its counterpart in Alberta, the Office of the Fire Commissioner, conduct investigations and how their findings shape legislation and impact fire-prevention strategies.
  
  
• The Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, funded by The Martin Wise Goodman Trust, went to Michael Petrou, freelance journalist and foreign correspondent who has reported across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He will explore how media can shape accepted narratives in contested political spaces, authoritarian states and fragile democracies. This fellowship is awarded biennially.
  
  
• The Tom Hanson Photojournalism Award, presented with The Canadian Press and supported by Nikon, went to Chris Donovan, a freelance photographer based in New Brunswick. This award provides an early-career photojournalist with the opportunity to spend six weeks with The Canadian Press head office in Toronto.
  
  
• The William Southam Journalism Fellowships, which reward mid-career journalists with an academic year to audit courses in the discipline of their choice and to participate fully in life at Massey College, are awarded annually by the University of Toronto and Massey College. This year's five winners are:
• Esther Mngodo, news editor of The Citizen, an English language newspaper in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is the recipient of the Gordon N. Fisher/JHR Fellowship, awarded in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights and named after Gordon N. Fisher who, along with St. Clair Balfour of Southam Newspapers, created the fellowships in 1962;
• Silvia Regina Rosa, a multimedia journalist covering the banking sector with Valor Econômico, a financial newspaper in São Paulo, Brazil, who received the Scotiabank/CJFE Fellowship;
• Jim Rankin, a reporter-photographer with the Toronto Star specializing in investigations, data journalism and features, who received the St. Clair Balfour Fellowship;
• Natalie Alcoba, managing editor with Vice, who received the Webster/McConnell Fellowship:
• Naheed Mustafa, an award-winning freelance producer, writer and broadcaster, who received the CBC/Radio-Canada Fellowship; and
• Siobhan Roberts, a freelance journalist and author whose work focuses on mathematics and science, who received the McLaughlin Centre Fellowship.

The previously announced Lifetime Achievement Award went to Jean Pelletier, currently senior director of television current affairs and documentaries for Radio-Canada, in recognition of an extraordinary career as a reporter, editor, producer and journalism trailblazer—in both print and broadcast. As La Presse's first permanent correspondent in Washington, D.C., Pelletier uncovered the story of the 1980 dramatic escape from Iran of six U.S. diplomats who were hidden by Canadian embassy staff during the hostage crisis in Tehran.

The annual CJF Tribute was presented to Jake Tapper, CNN's chief Washington correspondent and daily anchor of The Lead with Jake Tapper, for upholding the highest standards of excellence and inspiring working journalists around the world. Tapper, known for his work on the 2016 U.S. election and his relentless questioning to combat spin and fake news, also hosts CNN's Sunday morning show, State of the Union, where he interviews newsmakers on politics and policy.

The CJF thanks presenting  sponsor CN, along with the following organizations for their support of this event: BMO Financial Group, Labatt Breweries of Canada, Accenture, Medtronic, Scotiabank, Shaw Communications, Barrick Gold Corporation, Manulife, Rogers Communications, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, CTV News, Facebook Journalism Project, The Jackman Foundation, Thomson Reuters, Canadian Bankers Association, CIBC along with Tom Kierans and Mary Janigan.

Thank you also to The Globe and Mail, Maclean's, Metro, National Post, Toronto Star, CNW, The Canadian Press and Porter Airlines for their in-kind support.

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About The Canadian Journalism Foundation
Established in 1990, The Canadian Journalism Foundation promotes excellence in journalism by celebrating outstanding journalistic achievement. Our signature events include an annual awards program featuring a must-attend industry gala where Canada's top newsmakers meet Canada's top news people. Through J-Talks, our popular speakers' series, we facilitate dialogue among journalists, business people, academics and students about the role of the media in Canadian society and the ongoing challenges for media in the digital era. The foundation also fosters opportunities for journalism education, training and research.

SOURCE Canadian Journalism Foundation

Media Contact Information: Wendy Kan, The Canadian Journalism Foundation, Phone: [phone], e-mail: [email protected], www.cjf-fjc.ca

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