Media Centre

Journalism Awards

Past Winners

2009

Broadcast Category

No submissions for 2009

Honourable Mentions:

No submissions for 2009

Print Category

Lisa Priest

Globe and Mail - May 5, 2008

"Canada's U.S. Baby Boom"

Published in the Globe and Mail on May 5, 2008, the story entitled Canada’s U.S. Baby Boom examines the large number of high-risk pregnant patients - more than 100 in a one-year period - who are being sent to the United States for care because Canada simply does not have a bed. The cause of the problem is largely due to bed closings, too few staff and the lack of a national birthing plan.

Such a plan would ensure services are planned, guidelines on the best way to care for these patients are implemented and there is a stronger focus on maternity patient safety. This story examined the policy failure while providing a living example - Jade Pascoe - who had to make the harrowing journey to the U.S. for care.

Honourable Mentions:

1. Claudia Cornwall, Midlife Crisis, Best Health-September 2008
2. Guy Sabourin, La coeur des femmes, Le Bel âge.ca, 2008

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2008

Broadcast Category

Karina Marceau

RDI - PVP Monde Inc.

"Daughters of Gardeners"

“RAISING A DAUGHTER IS LIKE WATERING A NEIGHBOUR’S GARDEN” - Indian Proverb. India is sitting on a time bomb. The threat comes from within. Thirty-six million women are missing. The economic burden of dowries and the ancestral preference for boys make the birth of a daughter a shameful event. Ultrasound tests and abortions, medical acts which were supposed to represent progress for women, are instead being used against them. Trapped between tradition and progress, the second-most populated country in the world terminates girls before they are even born. Demographers do not hesitate to qualify the crisis of selectively aborting female foetuses as a real foeticide. Daughters of Gardeners, is a deeply moving and profoundly human documentary; an investigation of States where aborting girls has become a very profitable industry. This one-hour film follows the journey of a young Canadian journalist, in her quest to understand and document this demographic crisis, as well as its disastrous consequences on the entire Indian society; the inability of men to find wives; the increase in prostitution; the worsening AIDS pandemic; the kidnapping and trafficking of women; the advent of illicit marriages, etc. Unexpectedly poetic images for such a subject succeed in capturing the human element behind a reality that nonetheless appears quite inhumane. Avoiding the trap of perverse sensationalism, its very sensitive commentary acts like a veritable ray of sunshine cutting through a menacing sky. A film of hope, against all odds…

Honourable Mentions:

1. Jennifer Tryon, Vital Signs: HPV Series, Global National
2. Gaëlle Lussiaà-Berdou, Banque de sang de cordon ombilical au Canada, Première Chaîne de la radio de Radio-Canada
3. Avis Favaro and Elizabeth St.Philip , Nitroglycerine Patch, CTV National

Print Category

Marie-Eve Cousineau

Gazette des femmes

"Le corps dépotoir"

Published in January-February 2007, the news story entitled Le corps dépotoir attempts to answer the following question : do toxic products present in the environment play a role in the breast cancer development? Marie-Eve Cousineau is a freelance journalist and collaborator to the Gazette des femmes, a Quebec magazine published by the Conseil du statut de la femme that addresses women’s issues and feminist issues. The periodical, published every two months, issues about 25 000 copies.

Honourable Mentions:

1. Ann Marie McQueen, Abortion – multi-day series, Ottawa Sun
2. André Picard, Scientific breakthrough or unproven fix?, Globe and Mail
3. Marcia Kaye, Menopause Management, Canadian Health

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2007

Broadcast Category

Robin Smythe & Jim Handman

CBC Radio, Quirks & Quarks

“The Perils of preemies”

On the March 11, 2006, broadcast of CBC’s popular Quirks and Quarks radio program, Robin Smythe and Jim handman presented “The Perils of Preemies”, a fascinating look at the ethical and medical questions surrounding extremely premature babies.  Ms. Smythe and Mr. Handman provided listeners with a rich understanding of the potential long-term health and developmental problems faced by these babies, and the technology advances that have allowed babies to survive birth earlier and earlier in pregnancy.  The broadcast addressed the difficult moral question of “just because the tiniest babies can be saved – should they be?” Through engaging interviews with clinical experts, and the first-hand accounts of parents of extreme preemies, Ms. Smythe and Mr. Handman provide listeners with a rich and balanced look at this intersection of technology and ethics.

Honourable Mentions:

1. Hugo Lavoie, Le scalpel et le crucifix, Radio-Canada, Second Regard
2. Anne-Marie Rainville, La Césarienne, Téléfiction, Une pilule, une petite granule
3. Valérie Morand, Human reproduction, Radio-Canada International

Print Category

Lena Sin

The Province (Vancouver)

“An African Mother’s Agony”

In March 2006, Lena Sin travelled to Tanzania in eastern Africa to report on a debillitating birthing injury called obstetric fistula. While virtually unheard of in the West — the injury was eradicated in North America more than a century ago — obstetric fistula continues to afflict an estimated two million women in the developing world today, with another 50,000 to one million new cases being added each year. For this story, Ms. Sin interviewed many young women who travelled long distances to reach one of the country’s few fistula clinics located in coastal Dar es Salaam. In describing their experiences, the women shed light on the hurdles they face in accessing adequate health care and the stigma they live with as a result of an injury that leaves them incontinent.

Honourable Mentions:

1. Andrée-Anne Guénette, Cancer des ovaires: l’autre ennemi des femmes, Coup de Pouce
2. Kate Rae, The Next Big Thing, Glow Magazine
3. Kate Rae, Oh Baby!, Glow Magazine

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2006

Lisa Priest

The Globe and Mail

“Mother Courage”

In this insightful and moving investigation of women fighting cancer during pregnancy, Lisa Priest gained access to the real life experiences of women who underwent cancer treatment while pregnant, many of whom are still living with the uncertainty inherent in their diagnosis. Ms Priest described the exceptional medical efforts provided to patients with this disease, such as chemotherapy and surgery, while at the same time portraying the strength and courage of the women who struggled with the disease while protecting their unborn babies.

Dr. Marla Shapiro

Parallel Film & Television Productions Ltd.,
in association with CTV

“Run Your Own Race”

Run Your Own Race” chronicles the cancer survival story of Dr. Marla Shapiro as she went from high profile doctor to patient after being diagnosed with breast cancer, finding herself on the other side of the desk, as a patient, trying to find answers instead of being the one offering them. Produced by Parallel Film & Television Productions Ltd. in association with CTV, Dr. Marla Shapiro tells her private story from the mammogram that revealed her illness, through her yearlong journey to recovery. The one-hour special openly describes how cancer affected not just herself, but her friends, family and the public.

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2005

Shelley Page