Amnesty International Canada is delighted to announce the winners of its 29th annual Media Awards, which honour excellence in human rights reporting by Canada-based journalists and by Canadian journalists reporting abroad.
Among the winning entries are thoughtfully woven stories about an Ontario college student shining a light on Meta’s role in inciting violent, hateful attacks on his people; one woman’s efforts to eradicate the stigma surrounding the more than 100,000 survivors of female genital mutilation/cutting estimated to be living in Canada; and the decades-long campaign by Indigenous nations to defend their right to access the waters of the Colorado River basin in the face of longstanding discrimination and an escalating climate crisis.
The winners of the 2023/24 Amnesty International Canada Media Awards are (listed alphabetically by category):
- Local/Alternative: “Breaking the silence,” Kena Shah, This Magazine, November-December 2023 issue
- Long-Form Audio: “On the frontlines of the toxic drug crisis,” Jennifer Chevalier, Catherine Cullen, Kristen Everson, Emma Godmere, and Christian Paas-Lang, CBC Radio’s The House with Catherine Cullen, 7 October 2023
- Mixed Media: “Crisis on the Colorado: The Indigenous fight for water rights,” Megan O’Toole and Jillian Kestler-D’Amours, Al Jazeera, 20 April 2023
- National Written News: “Conestoga student survives genocide to battle Facebook,” Terry Pender, Waterloo Region Record, 3 December 2023
- Post-Secondary Youth:“‘We Want Them All’: Syria’s detained and forcibly disappeared,” Mimi Allef, The Link, 21 March 2023 (byline is a pseudonym used to protect the author’s safety and that of their loved ones)
- Short-Form Video: “‘Turn that violence into art’: Natteal Battiste on the transformative power of boxing,” Donnovan Bennett, Carla Antonio, Tori Weeks, and Dario Lozano-Thornton, Sportsnet, 27 September 2023
“Without exception, the six winning entries profile people and communities who have shown remarkable courage and perseverance in the face of adversity,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “We congratulate the winners on their remarkable achievements and thank the rights holders who shared their stories for bravely speaking truth to power through the press.”
Nivyabandi, a former journalist herself, said celebrating excellence in human rights reporting is as crucial now as it has ever been. “We are now experiencing a global backlash against universal human rights fuelled by disinformation, especially online. Courageous, truthful and engaging journalism honouring universal rights and the inherent dignity of every person empowers all of us with critical information and serves as a bright beacon of hope in bleak times.”
Reporting on human rights has become increasingly difficult for many journalists and news organizations in Canada and abroad, Nivyabandi noted. In Canada, job insecurity, shrinking newsroom budgets, online harassment, and the threat of criminalization impede journalists’ ability to conduct in-depth public-interest journalism.
Globally, violent attacks on journalists have reached a 30-year high. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 78 journalists were killed while reporting in 2023, and more than 300 were in prison. Since 7 October 2023, at least 137 journalists – most of them in Gaza – have been killed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“Violent attacks on the press are flagrant violations of journalists’ human rights and an assault on everyone’s right to know,” Nivyabandi said. “No one should be threatened, let alone lose their life, for doing the vital work of keeping us informed.”
This year’s panel of Media Awards judges featured a diverse group of experts in Canadian journalism:
- Pacinthe Mattar is an Egyptian-Canadian independent journalist and the host of the Don Talks series at the Don Arts Academy in Toronto. She received a National Magazine Award for her 2020 feature essay in the Walrus “Objectivity Is a Privilege Afforded to White Journalists” and she was selected as a 2022 Fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.
- Adrian Harewood is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University and was a long-time host of CBC Ottawa News at 6.
- Beth Berton-Hunter was the Toronto media officer for Amnesty International Canada between 2004 and 2019. She contributed to Amnesty’s advocacy in defence of the rights of Maher Arar, Omar Khadr, and Grassy Narrows First Nation, among other campaigns.
- Mary Lynk is an internationally award-winning journalist with a keen interest in human rights coverage. Currently a producer for CBC Radio’s IDEAS, she has won two Amnesty International Canada Media Awards.
- Candace Maracle is an award-winning Kanien’kehá:ka (Wolf Clan from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory) filmmaker and journalist. She has reported for APTN’s National News, produced for CBC Radio’s The Current and As It Happens, and currently works with CBC Indigenous.
- Caro Rolando is a Venezuelan journalist and audio producer who grew up on the unceded, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She has produced audio and writing for CBC Radio, the Walrus, and UNHCR Canada, among others.
- Liem Vu is a Global News host/reporter with more than 10 years of live TV experience on The Morning Show and Global News Morning. He has also reported for MTV News: Canada and for major newspapers including the Toronto Star and the National Post.
“The Amnesty International Canada Media Awards would not be possible without the contributions of our volunteer judges,” said Nivyabandi. “Thank you for giving generously of your time, talent and expertise to spotlight the accomplishments of your peers.”
