Michener Awards Foundation announces Fellowship winners

OTTAWA, May 11, 2015 /CNW/ - The Michener Awards Foundation today announced the winners of the 2015 Michener-Deacon Fellowships.

The Michener-Deacon Fellowship for Journalism Education is awarded to Robert Cribb, an investigative reporter with the Toronto Star for his proposal for a "National Student Investigative Reporting Project". He will use the fellowship to develop a detailed plan to connect the country's major journalism programs from coast to coast to research, report and publish ambitious stories of national scope on matters of vital public interest, in partnership with major media outlets.

The Michener-Deacon Fellowship for investigative reporting is awarded to veteran Radio Canada journalist Marie-France Belanger, based in Montreal for her project entitled "Le programme de tableaux Numériques Interactifs au Québec". Belanger will examine the use of technology in the classroom.

The Investigative Journalism fellowship is supported by the BMO Financial Group. It allows a journalist to devote up to four months for a reporting project. Applicants are required to undertake a project that aspires to the criteria of the annual Michener Award for journalism with its emphasis on making an impact for the public good.

The Michener-Deacon Fellowship for Journalism Education, supported by the Michener Awards Foundation and the Family of the late Paul S. Deacon, is dedicated to the advancement of the education of Canadian journalists. The winner will spend time at a Canadian university journalism school, teaching or mentoring students, and also pursue personal education interests.

His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, will host the Michener Awards ceremony at Rideau Hall on June 18 where the Michener-Deacon Fellowships will be presented and the winner of the 2014 Michener Award will be announced.

The Michener Award, founded in 1970 by the late Roland Michener, then governor-general, honours excellence in public-service journalism. The judges' decisions are heavily influenced by the degree of public benefit generated by the print, broadcast and online entries submitted for consideration.

Judges for the 2015 Michener-Deacon Fellowships:                                              

Susan Mitton (chair), former Regional Director, CBC Maritimes; Michael Goldbloom, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec, and former Publisher of The Gazette and the Toronto Star; Ivor Shapiro, Chair, Ryerson School of Journalism, Toronto; Maryse Cardin, Instructor, School of Communications, Capilano University, North Vancouver; and Sylvain Lafrance, Professor of Business at Haute Etudes Commercial in Montreal, and former Vice President of Radio Canada. 

Web sites:
www.michenerawards.ca
www.prixmichener.ca

SOURCE Michener Awards Foundation

Kim Kierans, [phone] ext. 164, e-mail: [email protected]; Julie Rocheleau, Rideau Hall Press Office, [phone], e-mail: [email protected]