JAGUAR LAND ROVER CANADA AWARDS 2010 AUTOMOTIVE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ON, Oct. 28 /CNW/ - At an event gathering a group of Canada's leading automotive journalists, Jaguar Land Rover Canada recently presented the Automotive Journalist Association of Canada (AJAC) Automotive Journalist to Mark Richardson of the Toronto Star.

This coveted award was inaugurated in 1984 by past Jaguar Canada president, John Mackie to "reward excellence in automotive journalism." It is now presented by Jaguar Land Rover Canada. A variety of submissions are considered for this award including feature story, car review, general editorial opinion, with personal style and mastery of the subject taken into account for all applications of media - print, television, radio and internet. Judges take into consideration the 'body of work' of the journalist, as individual entries for each journalist is grouped together for evaluation of his or her subject matter.

The panel of three judges, Marc Lalonde, John Burke, and Nick Russell, all with extensive journalism and literary backgrounds was impressed with Richardson's variety of subjects in the body of work entered, each handled in an accomplished and compelling writing style. 

"Driving with my Mother was a very touching piece about family and family cars," said John Burke of the judging panel. "The Ten Most Memorable Roads in Ontario was an unusual, well-researched piece."

In short, the judges' comments included: "Good imagination, clear writing and well-rounded choice of topics."

First runner-up in the Journalist of the Year competition and past winner of the award, Jeremy Sinek of MSN Autos Canada and World of Wheels, was said by the judges to have the "ability to make the complex simple and interesting for readers."

Second runner-up was awarded to Michel Crépault of Annuel de l'automobile for being "skilled at seeing the 'big picture' and delivering interesting and sometimes quirky opinions."

"This award was founded over 25 years ago by Jaguar and what a thrill it is to present the award on behalf of Jaguar Land Rover Canada in my first external function in my new position," said Lindsay Duffield, President of Jaguar Land Rover Canada. "Our Jaguar and Land Rover brands are premium and exclusive brands. As a result, it's so appropriate that we recognize the premium journalism published by this exclusive group of Canadian automotive journalists. Congratulations to all entrants and award winners!"

Notes for editors:

Jaguar Land Rover is a business built around two great British car brands that design, engineer and manufacture in the UK. Jaguar Cars Limited, founded in 1922, is one of the world's premier manufacturers of luxury sedans and sports cars. Since 1948 Land Rover has been manufacturing authentic 4x4s that define 'breadth of capability' in their segments. The Jaguar XF, XJ and XK models are manufactured at the company's Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham, while the Land Rover LR 2 at the Halewood plant in Liverpool. Land Rover's LR 4, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover models are all built at the Solihull plant. The Jaguar Land Rover business employs some 16,000 people, predominately in the UK, including some 3,500 engineers at two product development centres in Whitley, Coventry and Gaydon, Warwickshire. The business is a major wealth generator for the UK with 78 percent of Land Rovers exported to 164 countries and 70 percent of Jaguars exported to 63 countries, with sales to customers conducted principally through franchised dealers and importers.

Land Rover -

Go to http://us.medialandrover.com or http://interactivelandrover.com for news releases, high-resolution photographs and broadcast quality video footage. Information about Jaguar Land Rover Canada products is available to consumers via the Internet at www.landrover.com/ca

Jaguar -

Go to http://us.mediajaguar.com or http://interactivejaguar.com for news releases, high-resolution photographs and broadcast quality video footage. Information about Jaguar Land Rover Canada products is available to consumers via the Internet at www.jaguar.ca

/NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: Photos accompanying this release are also available at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to accredited members of the media/

For further information: