Mindset Award for freelancer who documented a mental health crisis among Alberta oil workers. Français
TORONTO, May 7, 2018 /CNW/ - An Edmonton-based freelance writer has won the Mindset Award for Workplace Mental Health Reporting for 2017, for turning a spotlight on the mental health crisis among Alberta's oil workers.
Omar Mouallem received the $1,000 award at the Canadian Association of Journalists national awards gala Saturday night in Toronto. Mouallem, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, among others, has won many other awards including a National Magazine Award in 2014.
His feature article for BuzzFeed News, Oil, Heartbreak, and Manhood: Behind the Mental Health Crisis of Alberta's Oil Workers, was chosen from seven finalists by an independent jury.
The Mindset Award is offered by The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, a charity concerned with the wellbeing of journalists. It introduced the Mindset and En-Tête guides to mental health reporting in 2014, with support from the Mental Health Commission of Canada and CBC News. More than 7,000 copies are currently in use in newsrooms and journalism schools across Canada.
The Mindset Award (known in French as le prix En-Tête pour le reportage sur la santé mentale en milieu de travail) is sponsored by the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace.
Accepting his prize on Saturday night, Mr. Mouallem spoke of the pressure and pain male oil workers endure "trying to fit the mould of what they think a man should be."
He added: "I think for 50 years we've given intense thought to women's experiences and what it means to be a woman in this world. The same conversation hasn't been had with the same depth or nuance when it comes to men. And likewise I think we've made incredible strides to talk about mental health and mental illness openly and without shame, but I think it's bravely led by women, who are much more comfortable talking about their feelings and reaching out."
CBC's Ioanna Roumeliotis received an honourable mention prize of $250 for her feature on The National, The Hidden Toll of Duty, which explored the mental health problems of people chosen to serve as jurors on grizzly and distressing trials. Other members of the production team cited were Corinne Seminioff (producer), Brenda Witmer (editor) and Jean-François Bisson (camera).
Our thanks to Cision and CNW for supporting this announcement.
For further information: 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]
SOURCE Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma
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