LONDON, ON, March 12, 2019 /CNW/ - Three finalists have been named for the 2018 Mindset Award for Workplace Mental Health Reporting. They were chosen from a dozen English-language entries by journalists and media organizations across Canada.
The finalists now being considered by an independent jury are:
- "One Judge Down" a documentary produced by Bonnie Brown for CBC Radio One's Sunday Edition, broadcast in January 2018. It revealed how Supreme Court Justice Gerald Le Dain was refused medical leave and forced to resign from the court in 1988 after he fell into a depression.
- "After the Sirens" a television documentary by Vancouver-based independent producer/director Kevin Eastwood, broadcast nationally on CBC and CBC News Network in the series Docs POV in April 2018. The documentary tells the stories of paramedics on the frontlines of a work-related suicide crisis.
- "Death of a Calgary Titan: The spectacular rise and tragic fall of George Gosbee" a feature report for the Globe & Mail's Report on Business Magazine, by Kelly Cryderman and Jeffrey Jones, published in August 2018. It told the story of a 48-year-old investment banker with the world at his feet and a direct line to the Prime Minister's office, whose suicide, linked to mental illness and alcoholism, shocked the business and political communities.
A separate jury is considering three finalists for the parallel award for French-language journalism, le prix En-Tête pour le reportage en santé mental au travail. Eleven entries were received from across the country. The finalists are: - "Au moins j'aurai sauvé des vies" (At least I will have saved some lives). Mylène Moisan's feature story for Le Soleil was published in May 2018. It concerned the suicide of Andréanne Leblanc, a young paramedic who killed herself in her uniform after attending numerous tragedies including the massacre at the Grande Mosquée de Québec. The title comes from one of the notes she left behind.
- "Chocs post-traumatiques : ces mineurs qui ne peuvent plus descendre sous terre" (Post-traumatic shock: the miners who can't go underground any more). The in-depth story, by Piel Coté of Ici Abitibi-Témiscamingue, ran in June 2018. It focused on miners who were trapped or rescued colleagues in the collapse of the Westwood Mine in 2015 and are now unable to go back underground because of PTSD.
- "Santé mentale en agriculture : Vivre de sa terre, souffrir de sa passion" (Mental health in Agriculture : Live off your land, suffer for your passion). Ici Radio-Canada Manitoba's Patrick Foucault completed his multi-media report about stress and mental illness among prairie farmers in December 2018.
Each of the awards, offered by the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma and sponsored by the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, carries a prize of $1,000. The Mindset Award will be presented at the awards gala of the Canadian Association of Journalists in Winnipeg on May 4th. Le prix En-Tête will be presented at the awards gala of la Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (FPJQ) in Montreal on May 5th.
The awards are named for the English and French versions of Canada's leading guide to mental health reporting, written and published by the Forum. The guide is called Mindset in English and En-Tête in French. More than 7,000 copies have been distributed to newsrooms and journalism schools across the country since 2014. A PDF version can be downloaded free online. Development and production of Mindset and En-Tête was supported by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, with funding provided by Health Canada, and by CBC News. The Forum has editorial control of content.
Forum president Cliff Lonsdale said: "All 23 contenders for these awards from all parts of the country are to be congratulated. It's clear that Canadian journalists are grasping the importance of stimulating discussion of mental health issues at work, and they are producing some excellent work. Each independent jury has been given a strong field of finalists."
He added: "It was especially encouraging this year to see eleven French entries from all parts of the country, now that we have two distinct competitions, thanks to increased funding by Great-West Life. The Forum plans to expand the family of Mindset and En-Tête awards further, to cover other aspects of mental health addressed by the guides, as more sponsors come aboard."
The Forum is an educational charity concerned with the physical and emotional wellbeing of journalists, their audiences and those on whom they report. Its work is supported by The Globe and Mail, CBC News, Radio Canada, Cision and CNW, in addition to the Great West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace.
Our thanks to Cision and CNW for supporting this announcement.
SOURCE Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma
Please see the Mindset website www.mindset-mediaguide or contact Jane Hawkes, Executive Producer, Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, 1-519 852-4946, [email protected]
Share this article