Michener Award

Last updated

The Michener Award is one of the highest distinctions in Canadian journalism. The award was founded in 1970 by Roland Michener, who was Governor General of Canada at the time, and his wife Norah. The idea for the award was developed in 1969 with Bill MacPherson, then president of the National Press Club and managing editor of the Ottawa Citizen , who remained a secretary of the committee administering the award until his death. Since 1970, the Michener Award has been presented yearly by the Governor General at Rideau Hall to a Canadian news organization "whose entry is judged to have made a significant impact on public policy or on the lives of Canadians". [1]

Contents

Although the award is presented to media organizations rather than individual journalists, five individuals of the nominated finalists are invited to the award ceremony so that their contributions can also be acknowledged. Since 1987, the Michener Foundation also awards annually the Michener-Deacon Fellowship, which provides financial support to a journalist wishing to complete a project that serves the Canadian public interest. The fellowship is named in honor of Roland Michener and late journalist Paul Deacon.

Past winners

Where multiple winners are combined in the table below, the winning work was a collaborative joint project of both news organizations. If two distinct pieces simply finished in a tie, then each work is listed on a separate line.

YearRecipientsWorkRefs.
1970 Financial Post and CBC Television The Charter Revolution, a collaborative investigation of the air charter business. [2]
1971 CBC Television The Tenth Decade, a documentary series about Canadian politics in the John Diefenbaker era. [2]
1972 The Globe and Mail Reportage on political conflicts of interest in Ontario. [2]
Halifax Scotian Journalist Reportage on conditions at a women's prison in Moncton, New Brunswick.
1973 CTV News "Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil", an hour-long documentary on the use of covert listening devices and the Canadian government's attempts to legislate around them. [2]
1974 Montreal Gazette Investigation into real estate development in Montreal. [2]
1975 Montreal Gazette Investigation into treatment of girls in youth detention. [2]
London Free Press Series on mercury poisoning in Ontario.
1976 Vancouver Sun Uncovering a series of illegal break-ins by the RCMP. [2]
1977 The Globe and Mail A year-long series of articles calling for reform in systems of child protection. [2]
1978 Kitchener-Waterloo Record Investigation into health and safety conditions at area meat packing plants, which had to be investigated by inspectors from the United States Department of Agriculture due to Canadian inaction. [2]
1979 Kingston Whig-Standard Investigation of unsafe emissions from an aluminum plant in Massena, New York, and their effect on the health of residents of Cornwall and Cornwall. [2]
1980 Edmonton Journal Investigation into abuse in Alberta's child welfare system. [2]
1981 CFTM-DT (Montreal)Investigation into management problems at Quebec's Fédération des caisses d’entraide économique. [2]
Kitchener-Waterloo Record Investigation into a real estate fraud scheme which led to the first jail term ever imposed under Canadian securities legislation.
1982 Manitoulin Expositor Investigation into a local suicide rate almost twice the national average, which led to the creation of a new suicide prevention hotline in Sudbury-Manitoulin. [3]
1983 Kitchener-Waterloo Record Separate stories on Revenue Canada's tax collecting methods, high pressure stock sales in Ontario and quality control problems in farm supply industries, which had been submitted separately but were all judged to be of sufficiently high quality to be honoured collectively. [2]
1984 Kingston Whig-Standard Story on federal tax reform. [2]
1985 The Globe and Mail Problems affecting immigrants. [2]
Toronto Star Series on ethnic minority communities in Toronto.
1986 The Globe and Mail Coverage of an amendment to the Criminal Code which impacted freedom of the press. [2]
1987 CBC Television Runaways: 24 Hours on the Street, a documentary about homeless youth. [2]
Southam News "Southam Literary Project", a series on literacy skills in Canada which sparked a major expansion of adult education programs to assist adults with learning disabilities and other literacy issues.
1988 The Globe and Mail Three investigative reports into real estate corruption in York Region, failures in Canada's business-class immigration programs, and failures by Ontario athletic commissioner Clyde Gray to properly enforce safety regulations in boxing. [2]
1989 Le Devoir Coverage of efforts to expand indigenous self-government rights in the Nunavik region of Quebec. [2]
1990 Elmira Independent Coverage of contamination of the local water supply with dimethylnitrosamine from a Uniroyal plant. [2]
1991 CBC Television, Toronto and WinnipegCollaborative reports on health insurance fraud, police corruption, furnace repair fraud, immigration practices, a federal tax loophole, and abuse of First Nations band government funds. [2]
1992 Edmonton Journal "Psychiatry on Trial", an examination of the judicial system's reliance on psychiatric testimony. [2]
1993 Ottawa Citizen Coverage of a government plan to privatize Toronto Pearson International Airport. [2]
The Globe and Mail Coverage of the Canadian Red Cross scandal around HIV-tainted blood in the medical blood donation system.
1994 CKNW (New Westminster, British Columbia)Coverage of a controversial power plant. [2]
1995 CBO-FM, Ottawa Investigation of the Somalia Affair, a military scandal surrounding Operation Deliverance. [2]
1996 Toronto Star Reports on spousal abuse in Ontario and flaws in the province's child protection system. [2]
1997 Halifax Daily News Series of articles by David Rodenhiser documenting sexual abuse in Nova Scotia reform schools. [2]
1998 Toronto Star Series of reports on problems of Ontario's health care system. [2]
1999CBC National Radio News, Winnipeg Curt Petrovich's work to uncover a scandal involving the Progressive Conservative Party's funding of Independent Native Voice during the 1995 Manitoba provincial election. [2]
2000 The Fifth Estate Series of reports on mistakes and abuse of the police and the justice system. [2]
2001 The Record Investigation of the misuse of municipal funds involving MFP Financial Services Ltd. (see RIM Park funding controversy). [2]
2002 Toronto Star Investigation into Race and Crime series of articles. [2]
2003 La Presse Two series of articles on poor hospital care in Montreal. [2]
2004 The Globe and Mail Investigative work on the sponsorship scandal by Daniel Leblanc and Campbell Clark. [2]
2005 The Globe and Mail Series of articles on breast cancer by Lisa Priest. [2]
2006 Prince George Citizen series of articles on the safety of truck drivers in the logging industry. [2]
2007 The Globe and Mail and La Presse Series of articles on the treatment of prisoners of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan, particularly after their handing over to Afghan security forces. [2]
2008 CBC News and The Canadian Press Joint project that investigated the use of taser guns by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. [2]
2009 Montreal Gazette Reporting on the mismanagement of a water management project in Montreal. [2]
2010 the fifth estate Reporting on the incarceration and death of Ashley Smith. [2]
2011 Victoria Times-Colonist Reporting on a British Columbia government policy that reduced support for people with developmental disabilities. [2]
2012 Postmedia and the Ottawa Citizen Reporting that exposed the "robocall scandal" in the 2011 Canadian federal election. [2]
2013 Toronto Star Coverage of Rob Ford's substance abuse issues. [2]
2014 The Globe and Mail Series on thalidomide. [4]
2015 Enquête "Abus de la SQ: les femmes brisent le silence", an investigation into ongoing physical and sexual abuse of indigenous women in Val-d'Or, Quebec. [2]
2016 London Free Press "Indiscernible", a series that chronicled the jailhouse death of a man with mental illness. [5]
2017 The Globe and Mail Investigation into how Canadian police handle sexual assault complaints. [6]
2018 Telegraph-Journal "Sounding the Alarm", a series on understaffing of emergency medical services in New Brunswick. [2]
2019 The Globe and Mail "False Promises", an investigation into exploitation of temporary workers and foreign students by unscrupulous immigration consultants. [7]
2020 APTN "Death by Neglect", an investigation into how indigenous children are being failed by the child protection system. [8]
2021 CBC Saskatoon and The Globe and Mail Coverage of the campaign to convince the Roman Catholic Church to compensate victims of the Canadian Indian residential school system.
2022 The Globe and Mail "Hockey Canada’s Secret Funds", coverage of the revelations that Hockey Canada was secretly paying out millions of dollars in compensation to settle sexual assault claims without publicly disclosing its use of the money.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of Canada</span> Canadian national order

The Order of Canada is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.

The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, also known as the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour or just the Leacock Medal, is an annual Canadian literary award presented for the best book of humour written in English by a Canadian writer, published or self-published in the previous year. The silver medal, designed by sculptor Emanuel Hahn, is a tribute to well-known Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock (1869–1944) and is accompanied by a cash prize of $25,000 (CAD). It is presented in the late spring or early summer each year, during a banquet ceremony in or near Leacock’s hometown of Orillia, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roland Michener</span> Canadian politician

Daniel Roland Michener was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 20th since Canadian Confederation.

The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. Alongside the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction and the Giller Prize, it is considered one of the three main awards for Canadian fiction in English. Its eligibility criteria allow for it to garland collections of short stories as well as novels; works that were originally written and published in French are also eligible for the award when they appear in English translation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Writers' Trust of Canada</span>

The Writers' Trust of Canada is a registered charity which provides financial support to Canadian writers.

The Journey Prize is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by McClelland and Stewart and the Writers' Trust of Canada for the best short stories published by an emerging writer in a Canadian literary magazine. The award was endowed by James A. Michener, who donated the Canadian royalty earnings from his 1988 novel Journey.

The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s they were also sometimes known as the Etrog Awards for sculptor Sorel Etrog, who designed the statuette.

The Governor General's Award for English-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in English. It is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit, seven each for creators of English- and French-language books. The awards was created by the Canadian Authors Association in partnership with Lord Tweedsmuir in 1936. In 1959, the award became part of the Governor General's Awards program at the Canada Council for the Arts in 1959. The age requirement is 18 and up.

Rita Celli is a Canadian radio journalist, who was the host of Ontario Today on CBC Radio One's stations in Ontario from 2006 to 2023.

Julian Sher is a Canadian investigative journalist, filmmaker, author and newsroom trainer based in Montreal, Quebec. He was an investigative producer for ten years then a senior producer for five years with the CBC's The Fifth Estate. He has written extensively about outlaw motorcycle gangs, child abuse and the justice system.

Graeme Smith is a Canadian author and researcher. He worked as a political affairs officer for the United Nations in Afghanistan from 2015 to 2018. He was previously a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group. He has served as a foreign correspondent for The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper.

Stephanie Nolen is a Canadian journalist and writer. She is currently the Global Health Reporter for The New York Times. From 2013 to 2019, she was the Latin America bureau chief for The Globe and Mail. From 2008 to 2013, she was the Globe's South Asia Bureau Chief, based in New Delhi. From 2003 to 2008, she was the Globe's Africa bureau chief, and she has reported from more than 60 countries around the world. She is a seven-time National Newspaper Awards winner for her work in Africa and India. She is tied for the most NNA wins in the history of the awards. Nolen is a four-time recipient of the Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Reporting. Her book on Africa's AIDS pandemic, 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, was nominated for the 2007 Governor General's Literary Award and has been published in 15 countries. She is the co-founder of the Museum of AIDS in Africa.

David L. Humphreys is a Canadian journalist, writer, lobbyist, and consultant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Turner (author)</span> Canadian journalist and author (born 1973)

Chris Turner is a Canadian journalist and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Center for Journalists</span> Journalism training and support organization

International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is a non-profit, professional organization located in Washington, D.C., United States, that promotes journalism worldwide. Since 1984, the International Center for Journalists has worked directly with more than 70,000 journalists from 180 countries. ICFJ offers training, workshops, seminars, fellowships, and international exchanges to reporters and media managers around the globe.

Jamie Swift is a Canadian journalist, author, and activist. His body of work has focused largely on issues of social justice, economy, environment, globalization, and politics.

The Gordon Sinclair Award is a Canadian journalism award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for excellence in broadcast journalism. Originally presented as part of the ACTRA Awards, it was transferred to the new Gemini Awards in 1986. During the ACTRA era, the award was open to both radio and television journalists; when it was taken over by the Academy, it became a television-only award.

The Wendy Michener Award was a Canadian film award, presented by the Canadian Film Awards from 1969 to 1978 as a special achievement award for outstanding artistic achievements in film.

André Pierre Picard is a Canadian journalist and author specializing in health care issues. He works as a reporter and a columnist for the national newspaper The Globe and Mail. As of 2020, he runs the news organization's office in Montreal. He currently lives in Vancouver.

The Institute for Investigative Journalism (IIJ), is a Concordia University, Montréal, Québec-based institute, founded in 2018 by Patti Sonntag, that teaches, promotes and engages in investigative journalism on Canadian issues. The institute partners journalism students with reporters and editors from Canadian media outlets to work collaboratively on large-scale public service investigations. In 2019, the IIJ's "Tainted Water" project was a finalist for the Michener Award for public service projects. The collaboration included 143 journalists from Canadian journalism schools and news organizations—The Toronto Star, Le Devoir, Regina Leader-Post, Global News, National Observer, and Star Halifax/Vancouver/Calgary/Edmonton. The IIJ's project resulted in "Canada-wide commitments to replace lead pipes and test water more rigorously". The IIJ project was described as a "new way to produce great public-service journalism".

References

  1. ↑ "The Michener Awards Foundation". Archived from the original on 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 "Previous Award Winners". Michener Foundation.
  3. ↑ "Suicide articles win award for Manitoulin Expositor". Winnipeg Free Press , November 14, 1983.
  4. ↑ "Michener honours go to the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star's Rob Cribb and Radio-Canada's Marie-France Belanger".
  5. ↑ "Michener Award: A series exploring a jailhouse death in London is honoured with Canada's highest honour for public service journalism". London Free Press . June 14, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Globe and Mail's Unfounded investigation wins Michener Award". The Globe and Mail . June 12, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Michener Awards Foundation announces finalists for the 2019 Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism". Michener Awards Foundation, May 5, 2020.
  8. ↑ "APTN wins Michener Award for series on First Nations child-welfare system". CityNews , June 16, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.