PHOTO: Sylvain Marier Gazette publisher Alan Allnutt, left,
and reporter
Linda Gyulai were presented with
the 2009 Michener Award
by Governor General Michaëlle
Jean. At right is her husband, Jean-Daniel
Lafond.
31 May 2010
CWA Canada members
honoured for outstanding work Michener, Atlantic and CAJ awards
bestowed
Dozens of CWA Canada members are basking
in the limelight of the spring journalism awards season.
This year's undisputed champion is Linda
Gyulai, a member of the Montreal Newspaper Guild who is the
civic affairs reporter at The Gazette. Her series
of articles on the largest
contract in the city's history led to its cancellation and
the firing of two top bureaucrats after her findings were
confirmed by the auditor-general. Her work won her two
of Canada's most coveted journalism awards.
Gyulai was the recipient on Thursday night
at Rideau Hall in Ottawa of the prestigious Michener
Award for public service journalism, followed by honours Saturday
night from the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
Her investigation of Montreal’s $355.8-million plan
to install water meters in institutional and commercial buildings
determined that major elements of the project were altered
against the city’s interest days before the contract
was closed. She exposed significant oversights on contracts
at city hall and ethically questionable relations between
former city officials and companies seeking contracts.
“This (CAJ) award is a vote of confidence not just
in my work, but also in the work of all journalists who come
up against pressure and obstruction to report on government,” Gyulai
said after the reception in Montreal. “I’m honoured
to be in the company of the outstanding journalists who were
nominated here.”
PHOTO: Sylvain Marier
Governor General Michaëlle Jean
presented Julie
Ireton with the Michener-Deacon Fellowship.
Sharing the CAJ award in the Computer-Assisted Reporting
category were fellow CWA Canada members Glen
McGregor and
Stephen Maher. McGregor, a member of the Ottawa Newspaper
Guild and reporter with The Citizen, collaborated with Maher,
a Halifax Typographical Union (HTU) member and reporter with
the Chronicle Herald. They used electronic records to produce
a series showing how a disproportionate share of federal
stimulus money ended up in ridings held by Conservative MPs.
“Computer-assisted reporting is the dorkiest kind
of journalism you can do," a chortling McGregor told
The Gazette. "But increasingly, governments keep records
not on paper but in electronic form. It’s about using
electronic records to uncover stories that wouldn’t
be readily available through documents.”
On Thursday night, Governor General
Michaëlle Jean
presented Julie Ireton with the Michener-Deacon
Fellowship.
Ireton, the business and technology reporter in the CBC Parliamentary
Bureau, is a member of CWA Canada's largest Local, the Canadian
Media Guild (CMG). The fellowship will enable Ireton to pursue
an investigation entitled The Federal Public Service: Middle-men,
Double-Dipping and Cronyism.
Many members of the CMG, which represents employees of the
CBC and The Canadian Press, won CAJ honours as well as being
named winners of Atlantic Journalism Awards earlier in the
month.
CAJ winners:
• Maureen
Brosnahan, CBC Radio, in the Faith and Spirituality
category for “The Least of These”
• Alison
Crawford, CBC National Radio News, in the
Scoop category for “Bishop Lahey”
• Lynn Burgess and Laurie
Graham, CBC News: The National,
in the Open Television category, for “E-Health Ontario
Scandal”
• Chris O'Neill-Yates, CBC News Newfoundland, in the
Regional Television category, for “Who's
minding the kids”
• Tina Pittaway and Neil
Sandell, CBC Radio One, in
Open Radio/Current Affairs category, for “Risky Business”
AJA winners:
• The
Canadian Press (Atlantic
Bureau), Halifax, NS, in the Spot News/Print category,
for Chopper Crash
• CBC Radio, Halifax, in
the Spot News/Radio category, for Spryfield Fire
• CBC
Television Newsroom, Halifax, in the Spot News / Television category for
Ferguson's Cove Fire
• Michael
Tutton, The Canadian
Press, Halifax, in the Enterprise Reporting / Print
category, for Nova Scotia Residence Abuse
• Bob
Murphy/Margot Brunelle,
CBC Radio, Halifax. in the Enterprise Reporting / Radio
category, for The Case of Kimberly McAndrew
• Deanne
Fleet, CBC News,
Newfoundland and Labrador, in the Enterprise Reporting
/ Television category, for Bishop Porn Stories
• Paul Withers, CBC Television,
Halifax, in the Continuing Coverage / Television category,
for Sewage Disaster
• Myfanwy
Davies/Christina Harnett, CBC Radio, Halifax, in the Feature Writing
/ Radio category, for A Light in Dark Places; The John
McKendy Story
• Lee Pitts, CBC News, Newfoundland
and Labrador, in the Feature Writing / Television category,
for Village of Hope
• CBC Newfoundland
and Labrador, in the Online News Reporting category,
for Cougar Helicopter Crash Coverage
• Judy Myrden, Chronicle
Herald, Halifax (HTU), in the Business Reporting /
Any Medium category, for Racing With the Tides
• Kate Wallace, Telegraph-Journal, Saint John (Saint
John Typographical Union), in the Arts & Entertainment
Reporting / Any Medium category, for Fred Ross Profile
• Lee Pitts, CBC News, Newfoundland
and Labrador, in the Video Journalist / Television,
for Show of work
• Steve Wadden, Cape Breton
Post, Sydney, NS (Sydney Typographical Union), in the
Photojournalism Spot News / Print category, for Fire
Rescue on Roof
• Peter Cowan, CBC News,
Newfoundland and Labrador, in the Photojournalism Spot
News / Television category, for Endangered Hunt
• Greg Agnew, Moncton Times & Transcript
(Moncton Typographical Union), in the Photojournalism
Feature / Print category, for Heels over Head
• Steve Lawrence, CBC Television,
Halifax, in the Photojournalism Feature / Television
category, for Thrill Seekers
• Nadine
Fownes, Chronicle
Herald, Halifax (HTU), in the Best Page Presentation
/ Newspapers category, for Justice for Karissa Boudreau
• Natalie
Kalata, CBC News
Newfoundland and Labrador, for the Jim MacNeill New
Journalist Award (Show of work)
