David Baines named Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

VANCOUVER, Sept. 3, 2013 /CNW/ - The Jack Webster Foundation today announced that David Baines, the intrepid Vancouver Sun business reporter, will receive the 2013 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Jack Webster Awards Dinner on October 30.

The dinner, featuring National Post columnist Christie Blatchford, will also honour the past year's best journalists with coveted Webster statues in 13 news categories.

The Jack Webster Foundation was established in 1986 in memory of the legendary BC reporter to recognize excellence in British Columbia journalism. The Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award, the foundation's premier honour, is named after the illustrious Vancouver Sun journalist who started out at the Victoria Times in 1917 and went on to become the confidant of prime ministers.

"What a delightful and satisfying way for any B.C. journalist to end a career," Baines, who recently retired, said of the award. "Webster and Hutchison are icons of BC media history. It's a real thrill to receive an award that honours and perpetuates their legacy."

In announcing this year's Hutchison Award winner, Jack Webster Foundation Co-Chairs Don Babick and Scott Macrae noted that Baines' 25-year career at The Vancouver Sun had an unprecedented impact that will continue to be felt throughout the business and wider communities.

"David Baines has personified the dogged reporter whose devotion to getting it right produced results far beyond just a great story in today's paper," Babick said. "David's white-collar crime and stock fraud investigations achieved successful prosecutions and they protected countless consumers and investors," Macrae added.

Baines' gutsy reporting was a magnet for lawsuits. In a stunning reversal, however, Baines won a large 1998 libel judgment against a Florida newsletter writer. From the proceeds, Baines created an endowment for business reporting at the UBC School of Journalism.

Baines has received four National Newspaper Awards (more than any other Western Canadian journalist), a National Magazine Award and four Jack Webster Awards. In 2012, he received the Portfolio Management Association of Canada's inaugural award for excellence in investment journalism.

Previous winners of the Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award include: Patricia Graham, Mel Rothenburger, Jim Taylor, Bill Good, Steve Wyatt, Jim Harrison, Vaughn Palmer, Vicki Gabereau, Tony Parsons, Rafe Mair, Allan Fotheringham, Patrick Nagle, Roy Peterson, Cameron Bell, Keith Bradbury, Dan McLeod, Denny Boyd, George Garrett, Moira Farrow, Jim Hume, Warren Barker, Len Norris, and Hutchison.

The 27^th Annual Jack Webster Awards Dinner will be held October 30 at the Westin Bayshore, Vancouver with CTV News at Six Anchors Tamara Taggart and Mike Killeen as masters of ceremonies.

Tickets are $170 per person and can be reserved at jackwebster.com/dinner or by calling 604-261-6184.

The work of the Foundation is made possible by the generous sponsorship of the BCGEU, CAPP, CPA British Columbia, CN, Fortis BC, HSBC Bank Canada, Labatt Breweries, Port Metro Vancouver, TELUS and WorkSafe BC.

SOURCE: Jack Webster Foundation

For further information:

Jack Webster Foundation
Nora Newlands, Executive Director at 604-261-3348
[e-mail]
www.jackwebster.com