CBC News' #MMIW wins top CAJ award

EDMONTON, May 29, 2016 /CNW/ - In a year when Canada's national media finally awoke to the tragedies of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the work by our national public broadcaster set the standard.

The CBC News Aboriginal team, supported by others across the CBC News team, are the recipients of the 2015 Don McGillivray Award, given to the top investigative entry into the annual CAJ Awards program at the gala which concluded #CAJ16 at the Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel.

The elements of the CBC's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women website were among the first to be published, told the stories of those affected in an impactful way and, somewhat sadly, led to the identification of even more Indigenous women as missing or murdered. McGillivray judges noted these elements in their deliberations, in a year when one of the other candidates for the top investigative award was also focused on MMIW.

CBC News' entry had been named recipient of the Online Media category earlier on Saturday, one of 14 recipients recognized across the CAJ Awards program. The winning entries in most categories received a $500 cash prize.

The full list of 2015 CAJ Awards recipients is below.

Please note the media outlet listed is where the recipient(s) worked at the time their entry was broadcast/published or where the particular entry was broadcast/published. Links, where available, have been provided in the titles of the recipients' entries.

The recipients in the OPEN MEDIA category are:

Andrew Bailey, David Bruser, Astrid Lange, Jim Rankin, Randy Risling, Joanna Smith, Rick Sznajder, Tanya Talaga, Jennifer Wells
Gone: Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women
The Toronto Star

The recipient in the COMMUNITY MEDIA category is:

Ian Hitchen
The Runaways
The Brandon Sun

The recipient in the OPEN BROADCAST FEATURE category is:

Karin Wells
'In the presence of a spoon'
CBC Radio One – The Sunday Edition

The recipients in the OPEN BROADCAST NEWS category are:

Anton Koschany, Victor Malarek, Sarah Stevens, Brett Mitchell
Phantom Menace
CTV – W5

The recipients in the COMMUNITY BROADCAST category are:

Natalie Clancy, Paisley Woodward
Real estate seminars exposed
CBC News – Vancouver

The recipients in the CAJ / MARKETWIRED DATA JOURNALISM AWARD are:

Diana Swain, Timothy Sawa, Lori Ward
Campus sexual assaults: The fight to get the real picture
CBC News Investigative Unit – CBC – The National

The recipients in the ONLINE MEDIA category are:

Cate Friesen, Cecil Rosner, Connie Walker, Duncan McCue, Tiar Wilson, Kimberly Ivany, Martha Troian, Chantelle Bellrichard, Joanne Levasseur,Teghan Beaudette, Kristy Hoffman, Donna Lee, Tara Lindemann, William Wolfe-Wylie, Richard Grasley, Michael Leschart, Michael Pereira
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
CBC News

The recipient in the PHOTOJOURNALISM category is:

John Lehmann
Portfolio entry
The Globe and Mail

The recipient in the SCOOP category is:

Bruce Cheadle
Omnibus budget bill rewrites history to clear RCMP of potential criminal charges
The Canadian Press

The recipient in the DAILY EXCELLENCE category is:

Margaret Evans
Paris Mourns
CBC Radio One – The World This Weekend

The recipient in the TEXT FEATURE category is:

Shannon Proudfoot
Jo has Alzheimer's. He's 38
Maclean's

The recipients in the JHR / CAJ AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING are:

Dennis Ward, Murray Oliver
A soldier scorned
APTN Investigates

The recipients in the CWA CANADA / CAJ AWARD FOR LABOUR REPORTING are:

Melissa Ridgen
Hurting for work
APTN Investigates

and

Nick Purdon, Leonardo Palleja
Up close: Prison guards
CBC News – The National

The recipients in the CAJ / CNW GROUP STUDENT AWARD OF EXCELLENCE are:

Amara McLaughlin, Jesse Yardley
Risky decisions for Canadian cancer patients
Calgary Journal / Mount Royal University

There were a total 230 entries for the 2015 awards program.

Congratulations to all our recipients. Your work has been outstanding, inspiring and a reminder of how despite the unending fiscal challenges facing our industry, Canadian journalists still produce plenty of amazing, important and impactful journalism. We thank you for entering.

The Canadian Association of Journalists is a professional organization with over 600 members across Canada. The CAJ's primary roles are public-interest advocacy work and professional development for its members.

www.caj.ca; www.facebook.com/CdnAssocJournalists;www.twitter.com/CAJ

SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists

Nick Taylor-Vaisey, CAJ president - 647-968-2393 cell, [email protected]; Hugo Rodrigues, Awards committee co-chair - [email protected]; Dale Bass, Awards committee co-chair - [email protected];