“We received a record number of entries,” said Excellence Jury Chair Michael Benedict. “And we received a record number of high quality entries. It speaks to the positive state of Canadian journalism despite tough economic times in the industry.”

A sellout crowd of media and business luminaries from across the country gathered at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel to celebrate overall excellence in journalism, with the ceremony hosted by Global National executive editor and anchor Dawna Friesen. Other honourees included Lifetime Achievement Award winner Patrick Brown and Honorary Tribute recipient Robert MacNeil.

“Good journalism starts with good reporters,” said Michael Cooke, editor of the Toronto Star, who accepted the Excellence Award from Rudyard Griffiths, co-anchor of the daily BNN current affairs show Squeeze Play. “The truth is there's not a lot in between. Good reporters are everything. The bloggers come out there to pick the pockets of the dead, but it's the reporters that do the real journalism.”

For CBC Manitoba, it was the second time managing editor Cecil Rosner accepted the Excellence Award on behalf of his organization – the CBC Television program Canada Now in Winnipeg won in 1991. Bob Lewis, incoming chair of the CJF, presented the award and congratulated the broadcaster for consistently delivering “very useful, very practical information that was of obvious value to its audience.”

“It's really humbling to be in this room,” said Rosner, noting that making a living as a journalist is rewarding in itself. “I count myself lucky to be able to come to work every day.”

The Winnipeg Free Press and The Tyee received honourable mentions in the large/national and small/local media categories respectively.

Among the evenings other awards:

• The Greg Clark Award, sponsored by CTV and the Toronto Star, went to Marion Warnica, a reporter with the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group in Lethbridge, Alta. Committed to serving her listeners in the southern Alberta area, Warnica proposed that she spend a week with experts at the Canadian Avalanche Centre in Revelstoke, B.C. to gain insight into a phenomenon that continues to mystify and terrify her community.  

• The Canadian Journalism Fellowships for a year of post-secondary study at the University of Toronto are awarded annually by Massey College. This year’s six winners are:
  
  
  
  • Robert Cribb, an investigative journalist with the Toronto Star,who received the Kierans-Janigan Fellowship, funded through the generosity of former CJF chair Tom Kierans and his wife Mary Janigan in honour of one of Canada's greatest arts journalists, the late Val Ross of the Globe and Mail;
  • Elizabeth Bowie, producer at CBC Radio, who received the CBC/Radio-Canada Fellowship;
  • Lee Pitts, an award-winning journalist with CBC Television & Radio news in St. John's, N.L., who received the St. Clair Balfour Fellowship;
  • Ato Dadzie, one of Ghana’s best-known journalists and currently news editor at Joy FM in that country, who is the recipient of the Gordon N. Fisher/jhr Fellowship, awarded in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights and named after the late Gordon N. Fisher who, along with the late St. Clair Balfour of Southam Newspapers, created the fellowships in 1962;
  • Luis Horacio Nájera, an investigative reporter who fled to Canada from his native Mexico after receiving death threats and a 2010 recipient of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression International Press Freedom Award, who received the Scotiabank/CJFE Fellowship;
  • Shawn Micallef, a senior editor and co-owner of Spacing magazine, who received the Webster/McConnell Fellowship, named after two Montreal-based foundations.

• The Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy, worth up to $100,000, is sponsored by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation, the Toronto Star and the Honderich family. The grant provides for a Canadian journalist to undertake a year-long research project on a topical public policy issue. This year’s recipient is Neil Sandell, a senior producer at CBC Radio Toronto. For his fellowship, he will explore the struggles of young adults in the workforce through a series to be published in the Toronto Star at the conclusion of the fellowship.

• The 21st Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship goes to David Skok, managing editor at Globalnews.ca. This fellowship is funded by a publicly subscribed permanent endowment in memory of Martin Wise Goodman, late president of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. The fellowship carries a stipend for living expenses and payment of fees to Harvard University. While at Harvard, Skok will be studying how to sustain the distinct Canadian journalistic presence in a world of stateless news organizations.

The previously announced Lifetime Achievement Award to Patrick Brown was presented by Peter Mansbridge, CBC senior news correspondent and anchor of The National. Reporting for CBC and its French-language network SRC from 1974 to 2008, Brown covered major events in dozens of countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He is the recipient of three Gemini awards and the author of the autobiographical Butterfly Mind. Brown is now an independent documentary producer based in Beijing.

In accepting his award, Brown recognized the hard work by the unsung heroes who’ve helped him and other foreign correspondents, often putting their own lives at risk for the sake of a story. “TV is a team sport ... if there is an achievement there, it is not a one person game,” he says. “Management and editors back here in Toronto are very concerned to look after us, as employees and known faces, but these people are important too and we need to remember when things happen not to forget them.”

Robert MacNeil, award-winning television news anchor, author and journalist and co-creator of the MacNeil/Lehrer Report, was acknowledged during a special CJF tribute for a journalism career that has spanned nearly a half century. Now living in New York City, MacNeil was born in Montreal and raised in Halifax but began his journalism career with Reuters in London.

MacNeil says his Canadian-ness has kept him “something of an outsider” when it comes to issues like the justification of the Iraq war, and also the belief in the value of public broadcasting. “I thank the Canadian spirit that shaped me when I was young,” says MacNeil. “Today, when looking for my country, I find it in myself.”

The CJF’s Annual Awards Gala is the industry’s must-attend event, where Canada’s top newsmakers meet Canada’s top news people. Over 400 of the country’s business and media luminaries will join together to celebrate excellence in journalism and honour those who’ve made significant contributions to journalism throughout their careers.

The foundation announced earlier this year that Patrick Brown is the recipient of the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award. Reporting for CBC and its French-language network SRC in both of Canada’s official languages for over 30 years, Brown has covered major events in dozens of countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

“I have always been in awe of Patrick for his brilliance and professionalism as a journalist,” says Tony Burman, former editor-in-chief and executive director of CBC News, now managing director of Al Jazeera English. “As a colleague, I learned so much from him in the field. And I know that many Canadians learned about the world from him through his work.”

The CJF is also pleased to award this year’s Honorary Tribute to Robert MacNeil, award-winning television news anchor, author and journalist. Born in Montreal and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, MacNeil started his journalism career in the 50s in London, UK and joined PBS in 1971. There he teamed with Jim Lehrer to co-anchor the network’s Emmy-winning coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings and launch the MacNeil/Lehrer Report. Now living in New York City, MacNeil will return to his native Canada to be honoured by his peers at the gala.

Our host this year will be Global National executive editor and anchor, Dawna Friesen. For 11 years, Friesen served as a foreign correspondent and anchor for NBC, covering many international news stories including the Israeli Palestinian conflict and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. When she joined Global in 2010, she became Canada’s first female, full-time, solo, weeknight, English-language, national news anchor.

Other awards that will be presented at the event include the Excellence in Journalism Award – which will be awarded to winners in two categories: large media and small media – the Greg Clark Award, the Tom Hanson Photojournalism Award, the Canadian Journalism Fellowships, the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy and the Martin Wise Goodman Nieman Fellowship.

For more information, visit http://cjfgala.ca or follow #cjfgala.

The Canadian Journalism Foundation thanks the following organizations for their support of the awards gala: Labatt; Waste Management Canada; Barrick; BMO Financial Group; Sunlife; Thomson Reuters; Medtronic of Canada. Thank you also to the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Le Devoir, CNW Group and CBC News for their in-kind donations.

The CJF’s Annual Awards Gala is the industry’s must attend event, where Canada’s top newsmakers meet Canada’s top news people. This year, in honour of its 20^th anniversary, the Foundation is planning its most exciting event yet.

The Foundation announced earlier that Lise Bissonnette is the recipient of the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award. Bissonnette began her journalistic career in 1974 at Montreal’s daily newspaper Le Devoir, where she held various positions before ultimately becoming editor-in-chief from 1990 to 1998. In 1998 she was appointed president and general director of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, a position she held until her retirement in June, 2009. Under her leadership, the establishment has become Quebec’s largest cultural institution in terms of size and the broad range of its missions.

The CJF is also pleased to award this year’s Honorary Tribute to Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, co-CEOs of Research in Motion, for their contribution in revolutionizing the technology of modern journalism. The gala will be hosted by CBC News chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge.

Other awards that will be presented at the event include the Excellence in Journalism Award – which will be awarded to winners in two categories: large media and small media – the Greg Clark Award, the Tom Hanson Photojournalism Award, the Canadian Journalism Fellowships and the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy.

Interview requests should be directed to:

Heather McCall, Program Manager

Phone: 416-955-0630 e-mail: hmccall@cjf-fjc.ca

To purchase a gala table or tickets, please contact:

Cindy Hipple

Phone: 416-955-0975 e-mail: chipple@cjf-fjc.ca

The Canadian Journalism Foundation

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