Finalists for 2019 Jack Webster Awards Announced

VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 9, 2019 /CNW/ - Western Canada's preeminent journalism awards today announced the finalists in the 13 different categories for the 2019 Jack Webster Awards. The awards recognize excellence in journalism in B.C. and all finalists will be celebrated, and the one winner in each category will be announced at the November 7th awards dinner to be held at the Hyatt Regency, Vancouver.

Submissions were encouraged from print, radio, television and online media sources that cover news, sports, the arts, business, community issues, and more. The finalists for the 2019 Jack Webster Awards are:

2019 Jack Webster Awards Finalists

Finalists - Excellence in Feature/Enterprise Reporting - TV
-Scott Roberts, Mi-Jung Lee, Jon Woodward, Bhinder Sajan, Penny Daflos, St. John Alexander, David Molko, CTV Vancouver for Legislature Spending Scandal
-Laura Lynch, Chris Corday, CBC British Columbia for Over the Volcano
-John Hua, Sam Cooper, Ted Anhorn, Sergio Magro, Tavis Dunn, Global BC News for Casino Diaries

Finalists - Excellence in Feature/Enterprise Reporting - Radio
-Bob Keating, Acey Rowe, Veronica Simmonds, Emilie Quesnel, Alison Cook, Veronica Simmonds, Jennifer Warren,
The Doc Project - CBC Radio for Winning the Punk Rock Lottery
-Anne Penman, Joan Webber, CBC Vancouver for On Gladys Avenue
-Jean Paetkau, Andrew Kurjata, Mike Clarke, Clare Hennig, CBC Victoria for Beyond Beads and Bannock

Finalists - Excellence in Feature/Enterprise Reporting - Print/Text-Based Online
-Laura Kane and Aleksandra Sagan, The Canadian Press for Contagion: Edging closer to a world without superbugs
-Kathy Tomlinson, The Globe and Mail for False Promises
-Daphne Bramham, The Vancouver Sun for Lessons from Portugal: Addiction, winning the war

Finalists - Jack Webster Award for Business, Industry and Economics
-Brent Jang, The Globe and Mail for Coastal GasLink Blockade
-Chris Walker, Christine Coulter, Marion Barschel, CBC Kelowna for Sticky Fingers: Fraud in the Okanagan
-Lori Culbert and Dan Fumano, The Vancouver Sun for Little Mountain: The money and sad history of a long-stalled project

Finalists - Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Legal Journalism
-Jason Proctor, Vivian Luk, Stephen Quinn, Geoff Walter, Theresa Duvall, CBC Vancouver for Sanctioned
-Gordon Hoekstra and Kim Bolan, The Vancouver Sun for Money-laundering prosecutions rare, difficult in BC
-Louise Dickson, Times Colonist for Canada's Impaired Driving Laws - Don't Breathe Easy if You're Sober

Finalists - Jack Webster Award for Science, Technology and Environment
-Bruce Grierson, Hakai Magazine for The Cavernous World under the Woods
-Leslie Anthony, Hakai Magazine for Deer Wars: The Forest Awakens
-Penny Sakamoto, Katherine Engqvist, Nicole Crescenzi, Nick Murray, Shalu Mehta, Nina Grossman, Ruby Della Siega, Michelle Gjerde, Vicki Clark, Lily Chan, Cara Robbins, Jennifer Blyth, Arnold Lim, Victoria News – Black Press Media for Special Report: Opioid Crisis

Finalists - Best Reporting Chinese Language
-Guo Ding, Richard Tang, Yuji Zhang, Omni TV for Discovering the Root of Chinese Ancestors: a Trip to the Gold Rush Town of Barkerville
-Jocelyn Wang, Fairchild TV for Magazine 26: Shortage of Seniors Care Workers
-Clement Tang, Fairchild TV for Magazine 26: Managed Alcohol Program

Finalists - Jack Webster Award for Community Reporting
-Dustin Godfrey, Abbotsford News for Finding a way home
-Francesca Fionda, Robin Perelle, Wawmeesh Hamilton, Cloe Logan, Uytae Lee, Zachary Kershman, The Discourse for Fake Art
-Tyler Harper, Nelson Star for Pineapple Man limbos into the sunset

Finalists - Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Digital Journalism
-Tamara Baluja, Dillon Hodgin, Peter Scobie, CBC Vancouver for Walking a mile in their combat shoes
-Jon Azpiri, Amy Judd, Simon Little, Jen Okrusko, Richard Zussman, Globalnews.ca for 2019 Wildfires
-Gordon Hoekstra and Nathan Griffiths, The Vancouver Sun for Online database: More than 120 recommendations delivered to tackle money laundering in B.C., Canada

Finalists Commentator of the Year – City Mike Award
-Sandy Garossino, National Observer
-Daphne Bramham, The Vancouver Sun
-Mel Rothenburger, CFJC TV

Finalists - Best Breaking News - TV
-Maria Weisgarber, David Molko, Allison Hurst, Michele Brunoro, CTV Vancouver for Wicked Windstorm
-Global BC News Team, Global BC News for Winter Windstorm
-Richard Zussman, Al Coen, Keith Baldrey, Kristi Gordon, Global BC News for Wildfire: State of Emergency 2018

Finalists - Best Breaking News - Radio
-Andrew Kurjata, CBC Prince George for Enbridge pipeline explodes in Prince George
-Sonia Aslam, Alison Bailey, Jim Bennie, Matt Coppin, Estefania Duran, Monika Gul, Tim James, Toby Kerr, Ria Renouf, Denise Wong, NEWS 1130 for Peace Arch Crash
-Gord Macdonald, Terry Schintz, Janet Brown, Mark Madryga, Jordan Armstrong, Kristi Gordon, Erin Ubels, 980 CKNW for December Windstorm

Finalists - Best Breaking News - Print/Text-Based Online
-Frances Bula, The Globe and Mail for Campaign Finance: The Civic Edition
-Justine Hunter, Gary Mason, Ian Bailey, The Globe and Mail for Legislature Scandal
-Jesse Winter, Perrin Grauer, Ainslie Cruickshank, David Ball, Alex McKeen, Cherise Seucharan, Star Vancouver for Wet'suwet'en on the Edge

Also at the awards dinner the 2019 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2019 Bill Good Award recipients will be presented.  Nahlah Ayed, host/producer of CBC – Ideas and a veteran foreign reporter will be featured in an armchair chat.

Tickets are available to attend the 2019 Webster Awards. They are $195 each or $1,950 for a table for 10. More information about tickets is available at www.jackwebster.com/dinnertickets where they can be purchased by credit card.

This year's Jack Webster Awards are made possible by: BCGEU, BCIT, Capital Direct, FortisBC, Global Container Terminals Inc., Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Langara, LNG Canada, Lyft, Port of Vancouver, UDI, and Unifor, with Hyphen as the Film Partner, Jelly Marketing & PR as the Communication Partner and Rocky Mountaineer as the Raffle Prize Partner. Thanks to Cision for also sponsoring this announcement.

The Jack Webster Foundation was founded in 1986 and named after the man who was Western Canada's best-known and most influential reporter. He left his mark on the B.C. journalism scene with his hard-hitting reporting style. In his more than 40 years of print, radio and television journalism, Jack Webster was synonymous with insightful, accurate and unabashed reporting. Today the Jack Webster Foundation carries on Jack's legacy by fostering excellence in journalism to protect the public interest for British Columbians by: holding the annual Jack Webster Awards for excellence in journalism in B.C., awarding annual Student Awards to aboriginal and senior journalism students, awarding Professional Development Fellowships to working journalists, and providing educational seminars for the media.

www.jackwebster.com

SOURCE Jack Webster Foundation

For further information: Janet Mitchell, Executive Director, Jack Webster Foundation, T 604-603-4218, E [e-mail]