Centennial College journalism students spotlight the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses

Professional cuddlers, drag queens and a surrogacy business are among 30 small enterprises featured in a special report

TORONTO, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Contemporary Journalism students at Centennial College are publishing a collection of stories focusing on small businesses during the pandemic. The project, Spotlight on Small Biz, highlights the resolve of small business operators and showcases the skills required of 21^st-century storytellers.

The online stories, to be released over two weeks beginning June 10, cover a range of themes, from businesses that have had to make the abrupt pivot to online, to creative innovations prompted by the ever-changing restrictions. The stories, written by 29 students, include:

• How delays in the surrogacy business are affecting would-be parents (June 9)
• The rise of professional cuddlers as a result of limited human interaction (June 16)
• Drag queens transitioning to online performances from in-person shows (June 17)
• A dog-training business assisting the huge influx of new dog owners (June 18)

"This past semester, we've been focused on learning how to apply our new journalistic skills in a newsroom," says Agnes Felis, a student in the program who wrote a piece on two university students who started a jewelry business. "This is the largest project we have taken to as a group, where we are coordinating and producing all the content ourselves."

The Contemporary Journalism cohort comprises post-graduates from Centennial and journalism students from the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC) who are studying in a joint program with Centennial. Stories can be found online at The Toronto Observer website and will be shared daily via Instagram (@spotlight.smbiz) and Twitter (@smbiz_spotlight) and Facebook.

"Our students took ownership of a story of challenge and resilience among small business owners and operators during the pandemic and are telling it through the application of the multimedia storytelling skills they've learned and refined over the last 10 months" says Tim Doyle, the program's co-ordinator. "Entrepreneurial Reporting is one of the final courses in the demanding, three-semester Contemporary Journalism program at Centennial."

About Centennial College

Established in 1966, Centennial College is Ontario's first public college. It primarily serves the eastern portion of the Greater Toronto Area with five distinct campuses.

Best known for its record of exemplary teaching, innovative programming and extensive partnership-building, Centennial enrols more than 25,000 full-time students and 18,000 part-time learners annually. Contemporary Journalism is a three-semester graduate certificate program that explores new tools, trends and directions in journalism while maintaining an emphasis on sourced, credible and verifiable storytelling. www.centennialcollege.ca

Photos available upon request.

SOURCE Centennial College

For more information or to arrange an interview, please call: Alex Varoutas, [email protected], 416-455-8929; Akash Sidhu, [email protected], 416-616-3300