I don’t know why all the journalism awards are handed out about this time. They should be handed out in late December when there’s no other news.
In any case, the Canadian Association of Journalists gave out its annual awards on Saturday, a day after the National Newspaper Awards. In both cases, neither the list of nominees nor the list of winners included any links to original content, which for the most part is still online. So once again, as a public service, I bring them to you below:
- Open newspaper/wire service (circ. >25,000): A Pig’s Tale (Steve Buist, Hamilton Spectator)
- Community newspaper: Adam’s Fall (Matthieu Aikins, The Coast)
- Open television (>5 mins): The Taser Test (CBC News: The National)
- Open television (<5 mins): Mulroney Mystery (Quicktime video) (Paul Hunter and Harvey Cashore, CBC News: The National)
- Regional television: Prescription for Profit (Windows Media video) (Kathy Tomlinson et al, CBC News: Vancouver)
- Open radio news/current affairs: Nuclear Renaissance (MP3) (CBC National Radio News)
- Computer-assisted reporting: Impact (Melinda Dalton and Tamsin McMahon, Waterloo Region Record)
- Photojournalism: Steve Russell, Toronto Star (you can see some of his photos on the Star’s Olympics photo blog)
- Magazine: The Pill Pushers, (Alex Roslin, The Georgia Straight)
- Faith and spirituality: Where is God Today? (CBC Radio)
- Scoop: Nunavut Business Credit Corporation fiasco (Patricia Bell, CBC Nunavut)
- Daily excellence: Murder on a Greyhound bus (Karen Pauls, CBC Radio)
- Print feature: How safe is your food? (Michael Friscolanti, Maclean’s)
- Student award of excellence in journalism: Motel muddle (Tamara Cunningham, Thompson Rivers University)
The big headline-making prize is the Code of Silence award, given to a government department that is an enemy of transparency (usually in a high-profile case). This year it was the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, for that whole listeriosis thing.
The national journalist association also bestowed its President’s Award to the unsung hero: media lawyers, who are working hard to make information free.