The Globe and Mail's Robyn
Doolittle wins Career Achievement Award, Canadian editorial
cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon wins
International Editorial Cartoon Competition
OTTAWA,
ON, May 2, 2024 /CNW/ - World Press Freedom
Canada (WPFC) is pleased to announce that Winnipeg's Melissa
Martin is the 2024 winner of our Press Freedom Prize,
while Robyn Doolittle of The
Globe and Mail is awarded our Career Achievement Award.
Martin took a leave from the Winnipeg Free Press in 2023 to
spend a year in Ukraine,
chronicling the impact of war on civilians on her Substack
platform. Between frequent air raids and bombings, Martin produced
vivid and compelling dispatches on the resiliency of the people
living amid fear and loss.
Martin worked under the constant threat to her own safety to
provide factual and vivid articles on the desperate situation with
the war in Ukraine, which has been
subject to so much disinformation online.
Doolittle has for many years been one of Canada's most tenacious and impactful
investigative reporters, at The Globe and Mail and previously at
The Toronto Star. In 2022-23, she teamed with Tom Cardoso, Mike
Hager and other Globe journalists on Secret Canada. She
previously shredded the veil of secrecy around the police handling
of sexual assault complaints in Unfounded, and investigated gender
inequalities in the workforce in Power Gap.
Judges considered nominations from across Canada for the annual press freedom award, the
career achievement prize in honour of committee co-founder
Spencer Moore, and our new student
journalism prize.
"Congratulations to the winners of this year's awards. We are
proud to recognize the journalists, including students and
editorial cartoonists, who continue to pursue important stories in
the face of secrecy and threats to their safety," says WPFC
president Heather Bakken.
"According to the world press freedom index compiled by
Reporters Without Borders, the environment for journalism is 'bad'
in seven out of 10 countries and journalism is under threat from
the fake content industry," says Bakken. "While many independent
news organizations across western democracies struggle to survive
with smaller budgets and fewer journalists, AI-generated social
media campaigns are bombarding the information ecosystem with
misinformation, disinformation and deep-fake videos that are
designed to affect the electorate. Press freedom is more important
now than ever."
The inaugural WPFC Student Achievement Award goes to Charles
Séguin and Naomie
Duckett-Zamor from the student paper at L'Université du
Québec à Montréal for articles on lack of democracy at the student
associations. The journalists faced threats and the theft of
newspapers designed to thwart their coverage but carried on.
WPFC is an Ottawa-based
volunteer committee that champions press freedom at home and
abroad. The awards will be presented at our annual luncheon event
at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on May 2,
featuring keynote speaker Margaret
Sullivan, columnist for The Guardian US. The luncheon theme,
to mark the United Nations' World Press Freedom Day, is Free Press,
Fair Elections and Democracy.
The committee is also awarding a Freedom of Information citation
to The Globe and Mail for its multi-year Secret Canada project, which exposed Canada's dysfunctional access to information
systems and also created a website to help journalists and other
citizens access government information.
Efficient and timely access to information is critical to a free
and independent press, and helps journalists inform citizens and
hold governments to account. WPFC urges the Liberal government to
fix the glaring problems plaguing its system, as it has promised to
do since taking office in 2015.
Certificates of Merit awarded
In addition to the top prize winners, WPFC is awarding three
Certificates of Merit.
Toronto Star's Sara Mojtehedzadeh is recognized for her
diligent reporting on the extent to which Ontario's economy relies on exploited, at
times illegally trafficked workers in her Work Forced series.
Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel of The Globe and Mail's
Montreal bureau is also recognized
for his reporting on Quebec's
prison system including an article based on documents he was
ordered to relinquish but defied the order.
The committee has also awarded a local journalism certificate of
merit to Keith Corcoran,
LighthouseNOW Progress Bulletin, a community weekly in Bridgewater, N.S., for his dogged and
ultimately successful pursuit of search warrant records in the
Nova Scotia courts.
Canadian cartoonist MacKinnon wins
International Editorial Cartoon Contest
Canadian cartoonist Bruce
MacKinnon won the International Editorial Cartoon
Contest for his cartoon based on the theme of Artificial
Intelligence: Yes or No?
Brazil's Dalcio Machado won second place and Serbia's
Jugoslav Vlahovic placed third.
About World Press Freedom
Canada
World Press Freedom Canada is an Ottawa-based, non-profit volunteer
organization that promotes free expression and media rights. It
celebrates UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day by honouring the award
winners. This year World Press Freedom Day is May 3.
Follow us on
@CDN_WPF and
@worldpressfreedomcanada
SOURCE Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom