Gary Mason named Lifetime Achievement Award recipient as 2015 Webster Finalists announced

VANCOUVER, Sept. 9, 2015 /CNW/ - The Jack Webster Foundation today announced that Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason will receive the 2015 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award at the 29th Annual Jack Webster Awards Dinner on November 4, 2015.

The dinner, featuring Jeffrey Simpson, national affairs columnist for The Globe and Mail, will also honour the finalists for the 2015 Webster Awards, 13 of whom will win the coveted Webster statue.

The Jack Webster Foundation was established in 1986 to recognize excellence in British Columbia journalism in honour of legendary BC reporter Jack Webster. The Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award, the foundation's premier honour, is named after the illustrious Vancouver Sun journalist who started out at the Victoria Times in 1917 and went on to become the confidant of prime ministers.

"This award means everything to me," said Mason. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't dream of one day being on a stage accepting it. I had the privilege of meeting Bruce Hutchinson a few times at the beginning of my career and was in absolute awe. He was the epitome of a great journalist and has always remained the gold standard for me."

Mason's journalism career spans 34 years. A graduate of Langara College's journalism program, Mason began his career as an intern at Canadian Press, and developed it at the Victoria Times-Colonist, The Vancouver Sun and, since 2005, The Globe and Mail.

"Gary Mason is one of our province's most influential journalists," JWF Co-Chair Scott Macrae said. "From legislative bureau chief to city editor, sports columnist and now a national columnist writing on BC and western Canadian matters, Mason illuminates his subjects with experience that is both wide and deep."

"Mason has a rare talent for coaxing stories out of eminent figures and ordinary people," Co-Chair Ernest Yee said, "and creating forceful narratives to the day's news."

Previous winners of the Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award include: Brian Coxford, David Baines, Patricia Graham, Mel Rothenburger, Jim Taylor, Bill Good, Steve Wyatt, Jim Harrison, Vaughn Palmer, Vicki Gabereau, Tony Parsons, Rafe Mair, Allan Fotheringham, Patrick Nagle, Roy Peterson, Cameron Bell, Keith Bradbury, Dan McLeod, Denny Boyd, George Garrett, Moira Farrow, Jim Hume, Warren Barker, Len Norris, and Hutchison himself.

FINALISTS FOR THE 2015 WEBSTER AWARDS

Best News Reporting of the Year – Print

• Denise Ryan, Brian Morton, Gordon Hoekstra, Tara Carman, Derrick Penner, Larry Pynn, Kelly Sinoski, The Vancouver Sun: Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Collapse
• Justine Hunter, Mike Hager, Stanley Tromp, Gary Mason, Sunny Dhillon, The Globe and Mail: Oil Spill
• Matt Kieltyka, Emily Jackson, Luke Simcoe, Metro: Young Vancouverites Fleeing to More Affordable Pastures

Best News Reporting of the Year – Radio

• Shiral Tobin, Rick Cluff, The Early Edition, CBC Radio One Vancouver: (dis)integration)
• Natalie Clancy, CBC: On the Coast: RCMP Blamed for Mountie's Suicide
• Bob Keating, CBC Radio: The Shooting of Peter Degroot

Best News Reporting of the Year – Television
Presented in memory of Keith Bradbury

• Scott Roberts, Melanie Nagy, Jon Woodward, CTV Vancouver: Dairy Farm Abuse
• Jamie Forsythe, John L. Daly, Jas Johal, Rumina Daya, Geoff Hastings, Karl Avefjall, Simon Boniface, Chris Allard, Tony Clark, Gary Asuncion, Global BC: Mount Polley Mine Disaster
• Scott Roberts, Michelle Brunoro, Jon Woodward, CTV Vancouver: Who Killed Serena?

Best Feature Story – Print

• Stephen Hume, The Vancouver Sun: British Columbia and The Great War
• Kim Bolan, The Vancouver Sun: Crime & the Waterfront
• Gary Mason, The Globe and Mail: Troubles at the BC Cancer Agency

Best Feature Story – Radio

• Willow Yamauchi, Joan Webber, CBC Radio's The Current: Deaf Jam
• Francesca Lucia, Radio NL: Under the Skin
• Margaret Gallagher, Yvonne Gall, CBC Radio: The Wayfaring Stranger: Lost and Found in Vancouver

Best Feature Story – Television

• Chris Brown, James Roberts, Nicolas Amaya, CBC: City Fix: How Our Cities are Making Us SIck
• Elaine Yong, Simon Boniface, Paul Rowand, Kristin Robinson, Kevin Church, Jennifer Palma, Luca Sgaetti, Global BC: Kyle McConkey
• Frances Plourde, Pierre Beaudoin, Daniel Beauparlant, Second Regard, Radio-Canada: The Death of the United Church

Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Digital Journalism

• Tracy Sherlock, Chad Skelton, The Vancouver Sun: Education Data Series
• Anne Penman, Kali Smith, Liam Britten, CBC British Columbia: Faces of BC
• Justine Hunter, The Globe and Mail, Google History Lesson

Jack Webster Business, Industry and Economics Award
Endowed by Jean Cormier

• Larry Pynn, Gordon Hoekstra, The Vancouver Sun: Pride & Power: First Nations and the BC Economy
• Rob Shaw, Roger Watanabe, The Vancouver Sun: The Budget Family
• Chris Brown, James Roberts, CBC: The National: The Sharing Economy

Best Reporting - Chinese Language

• Travena Lee, Fairchild Radio: Gangs in Surrey and Delta
• Spencer Gall, Fairchild Television: Magazine 26 Remembering The Heroes
• Aiken Lau, Andy Cheung, Edward Chun, Kelvin Chung, Jose Ng, Luna Tsoi, CHMB AM 1320: Transit Tax Plebiscite Yes or No Special Feature

Jack Webster Award for Community Reporting

• Roszan Holmen, Focus Magazine: E&N: More Red Lights Ahead?
• David P. Ball, The Tyee: Status: Inside Vancouver's Sanctuary Movement
• Erin Haluschak, Comox Valley Record: l'tustolagalis – Rising Up, Together

Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Legal Journalism
Sponsored by the Law Society of BC

• Nelson Bennett, Business in Vancouver: Anti-spam Laws Change Canada's Marketing Landscape
• Travis Lupick, The Georgia Straight: Former Inmate Shares His Story of BC Prisons' Revolving Doors
• Tracy Sherlock, The Vancouver Sun: Teachers' Court Battle

Jack Webster Award for Science, Technology, Health and Environment
Sponsored by Genome British Columbia

• Larry Pynn, The Vancouver Sun: Minding The Farm
• Chris Brown, Chris Corday, Simon Charland-Faucher, CBC The National: BC's War on the Wolf
• Daniel Wood, The Georgia Straight: Can Grizzly Watchers End the Trophy Hunt?

Commentator of the Year
Presented in memory of Linda Webster
The winner will be announced at the Jack Webster Awards Dinner.

Bill Good Award
The inaugural award recipient will be recognized at the 2015 Jack Webster Awards Dinner.

The 29^th Annual Jack Webster Awards Dinner will be held November 4, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver.  Tickets are $175 per person and can be reserved at jackwebster.com/dinner or by calling 604-261-6184.

The work of the Foundation is made possible by the generous sponsorship of BCMEA, CN, Fortis BC, HSBC Bank Canada, Labatt Breweries, Port Metro Vancouver, Resource Works, TELUS.

CNW distributes Webster releases as part of its support of the Jack Webster Foundation.

SOURCE Jack Webster Foundation

Jack Webster Foundation: Nora Newlands, Executive Director, 604-261-3348, [email protected], www.jackwebster.com