As one of Canada’s leading media unions, the Canadian Media Guild has a duty to further both a greater public understanding of labour issues and the practice of better labour journalism. To help in accomplishing that mission, CMG is establishing an annual $2,000 award for labour reporting in Canada. The goal is to encourage excellence in the coverage of labour-related news and issues in print, broadcast and new media.
The award will recognize journalists whose work has:
- Advanced the public’s understanding of an issue or set of issues, facing either the labour movement or organized workers in Canada.
- Shown innovation in broadening the coverage of trade unions and labour issues beyond “crisis reporting” of disputes such as strikes and lockouts.
The deadline varies from year-to year, and submissions must have been published or broadcast sometime in the previous calendar year in Canada by a media outlet that publishes or broadcasts a diverse package of general news, on a regular basis, designed to reach a mass audience.
Since the award is designed to encourage labour reporting by the general news media, work appearing in labour-related or other alternative publications is not eligible.
Judges will take into account the impact of the report, and whether it contributed to legislative, legal or other significant change.
The winner of the award shall be invited to receive it at a meeting of the CMG. The cash award will be accompanied by a wall plaque. Runners-up will receive wall plaques recognizing their accomplishments.
The judging shall be done by a panel of six, including a chairperson selected by the National Executive Committee of CMG, journalists, and active and leading members of organized labour in Canada.
Submit a copy of each newspaper or magazine entry, plus the original tear sheet. Internet entries should be submitted as print-outs with the URL shown. Broadcast entries should be submitted on audio or video tape (VHS), or DVD, and should be accompanied by a copy of the final script.
All entries must include: A one-page summary of the work. Any additional information about difficulties researching, writing or producing the story and any resulting impact would be useful. The name, phone and e-mail address, if any, of those to be contacted with winning results.
Entries may be single stories or a larger body of work related to a single issue or development.
Entries that do not conform to these minimum requirements will not be judged.
If the judges deem that no entry warrants an award, an award will not be given that year.
For more information, contact Karen Wirsig (karen@cmg.ca) at 416-591-5333, ext. 243, or 1-800-465-4149.
