Highlights of the 2016 Canadian Journalism Foundation Awards

TORONTO, June 29, 2016 /CNW/ - The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) celebrated excellence in journalism at the largest-ever CJF Awards, honouring innovative approaches, courageous reporting and longtime contributions to the media landscape, from across the country and abroad.

"We're all part of this universal connection of values," said Harold Evans, former Sunday Times editor, in his acceptance speech for the CJF Tribute, which honours individuals for their impact on the international stage. "We all know what we're trying to do with journalism: speak up for the powerless, comfort the afflicted and do something to leave the world a better place than we found it."

Photos from the evening and videos of the acceptance speeches are available on the 2016 CJF Awards page. More than 600 journalists, media executives and business leaders attended the sold-out gala on June 16 at the Fairmont Royal York, hosted by Anna Maria Tremonti, host of CBC Radio's The Current.

"Just when one is feeling demoralized by the plight of media, you come to this room and feel this marvelous surge and see the inventive ways that journalism is being reconceived as well as practised," said Tina Brown, former New Yorker and Vanity Fair editor, who was also honoured with the CJF Tribute.

Presenters included David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters and The Woodbridge Company Limited; Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University; Michael Cooke, editor of the Toronto Star;  David Walmsley, editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail; Sally Armstrong, journalist, author and human rights activist; Matt Galloway, host of Metro Morning on CBC Radio; Connie Walker, investigative reporter with CBC News; Trina McQueen, adjunct professor in the Arts and Media department of the Schulich School of Business at York University; and Tom Clark, chief political correspondent for Global News and host of The West Block.

CBC News won this year's CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism in the large-media category, based on stories documenting unsolved cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

"It was a deliberate decision to bring the weight and power of CBC News to this story, to illustrate, amplify and humanize a story that didn't get enough of the daily agenda in our news media," said Jennifer McGuire, general manager and editor-in-chief of CBC News and Centres, who accepted the award on behalf of the team of journalists. "We want to thank the families of these women who trusted us with these precious, painful stories."

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. In the small-media category, the Telegraph-Journal, based in Saint John, N.B., won the CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism for "Tracking Daycare Deficiencies."

The CJF Innovation Award, which recognizes creative new approaches to advance the quality of journalism, went to Discourse Media, a Vancouver-based independent media company that produces in-depth journalism about complex issues using collaborative approaches. During last year's Vancouver transportation funding referendum, Discourse Media obtained, analyzed and produced data that helped readers to—among other things—calculate the cost of their commutes in its "Moving Forward" project.

Among the evening's other award winners:

• The CJF Aboriginal Journalism Fellowships aim to foster better comprehension of Aboriginal issues in Canada's major media and community outlets. The awards are offered to two Aboriginal journalists with one to 10 years of experience, who spend a month at CBC News's Aboriginal Centre in Winnipeg. This year's fellows are Stephanie Cram, a Métis multimedia journalist in Winnipeg, who plans to investigate issues that people in remote First Nations' communities face when trying to access health services, and Trevor Jang, a reporter and content creator at Roundhouse Radio 98.3 in Vancouver, who will explore issues of indigenous identity and reconciliation, an idea triggered in part by the decision at an All-Native Basketball Tournament to ban a participant based on his ancestry, despite his being adopted at birth by the Heiltsuk First Nation. Jang, from the Laksilyu (Small Frog) Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation in northwestern British Columbia, is also Chinese-Canadian. The fellowships are presented in partnership with CBC News and 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 who gives greater profile to women's equality issues. Named after noted journalist and social activist Michele Landsberg, the award comes with a $5,000 prize. Two winners—and three people—were selected in recognition of the year's exceptional coverage of women's equality issues. The Radio-Canada Enquête duo of journalist Josée Dupuis and producer/director Emmanuel Marchand won for their investigative work on sexual abuse of indigenous women by police in the Quebec town of Val d'Or, while the other winner was Catherine Porter, a columnist and feature writer with the Toronto Star, whose articles explored systemic issues such as women murdered by their partners.
  
  
• 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 Catherine Wallace, a freelance reporter who has worked for more than three decades in the newspaper industry in Toronto and Montreal. For her fellowship, she plans to explore if the answer to the future of the newspaper business model lies in building partnerships within communities.
  
  
• 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 Jayme Poisson, an investigative reporter with the Toronto Star, proposed splitting her time between the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Office and the federal Office of the Information Commissioner to explore how they deal with access-to-information requests.
  
  
• The Tom Hanson Photojournalism Award, presented with The Canadian Press and supported by Nikon, went to Eduardo Lima, a Toronto-based freelance photographer. This award provides an early-career photojournalist with the opportunity to spend six weeks at 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:
  
  
  • Rodney Sieh, the founder and editor of Liberia's largest online and print newspaper, FrontPageAfrica, 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, established the fellowships in 1962;
  • Katie Daubs, a feature reporter with the Toronto Star, who received the St. Clair Balfour Fellowship;
  • Hugo de Grandpré, a reporter with La Presse, who received the Webster/McConnell Fellowship:
  • Martine Laberge, a reporter with CBC/Radio-Canada, who received the CBC/Radio-Canada Fellowship; and
  • James Lebans, a reporter for CBC/Radio-Canada's Quirks & Quarks, who received the inaugural McLaughlin Centre Science Fellowship.

The previously announced Lifetime Achievement Award went to Lloyd Robertson, in recognition of a distinguished career in broadcast journalism spanning more than five decades, and counting. The longtime anchor of CTV National News, Robertson is currently host and chief correspondent of W5, CTV's investigative news program.

The annual CJF Tribute recognized Tina Brown, in honour of her remarkable career shaping the cultural media landscape as a magazine editor and in her role now as CEO of Tina Brown Live Media, and Harold Evans, in honour of an exceptional career with significant impact. Among his achievements: campaigning for a just settlement and an apology for British Thalidomide victims.

The CJF presented a Special Citation to The Boston Globe Spotlight Team, for exemplary investigative journalism. The reporting team won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for its investigative series exposing widespread child abuse by numerous priests and the systemic cover-up by the Catholic Church in Boston. Globe reporters Sacha Pfeiffer and Michael Rezendes, along with the editor who led the investigation, Walter V. Robinson, accepted the award on behalf of the team. The Spotlight Team's courageous journalism was portrayed in the movie Spotlight, which won best picture and best original screenplay at this year's Academy Awards.

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

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

#CJFawards

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 supports journalism websites J-Source.ca (English) and ProjetJ.ca (French) and fosters opportunities for journalism education, training and research.

SOURCE Canadian Journalism Foundation

Video with caption: "Video: Highlights of the 2016 Canadian Journalism Foundation Awards". Video available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/playback.cgi?file=20160629_C7128_VIDEO_EN_725040.mp4&posterurl=http%3a%2f%2fphotos.newswire.ca%2fimages%2f20160629_C7128_PHOTO_EN_725040.jpg&order=1&jdd=20160629&cnum=C7128

Image with caption: "CBC News won the CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism in the large-media category at the CJF Awards. From left: Cate Friesen, senior producer with CBC Aboriginal, Jennifer McGuire, editor-in-chief of CBC News, Cecil Rosner, managing editor of CBC Manitoba, and Connie Walker, investigative reporter with CBC News. (CNW Group/Canadian Journalism Foundation)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160629_C7128_PHOTO_EN_724991.jpg

Image with caption: "Lloyd Robertson, the longtime anchor of CTV National News who is currently host and chief correspondent ofW5, CTV’s investigative news program, was the recipient of the CJF Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of a distinguished career in broadcast journalism. (CNW Group/Canadian Journalism Foundation)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160629_C7128_PHOTO_EN_724987.jpg

Image with caption: "The CJF Special Citation honoured The Boston Globe Spotlight Team for its work exposing widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in the Boston area. Reporters Sacha Pfeiffer (left) and Michael Rezendes (middle), along with the team editor Walter V. Robinson (right) accepted the honour on behalf of the team. (CNW Group/Canadian Journalism Foundation)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160629_C7128_PHOTO_EN_724989.jpg

Image with caption: "The CJF Tribute honoured Tina Brown, former New Yorker and Vanity Fair editor, and Harold Evans, former Sunday Times editor, for their distinguished contributions to journalism at the CJF Awards. (CNW Group/Canadian Journalism Foundation)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160629_C7128_PHOTO_EN_724985.jpg

Inquiries: Natalie Turvey, Executive Director, The Canadian Journalism Foundation, Phone: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]; Media Contact: Wendy Kan, Program Manager, The Canadian Journalism Foundation, Phone: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]