Media union’s members honoured by CAJ for outstanding journalism

More than a dozen CWA Canada members are among this year’s winners of Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) awards for outstanding journalism.

Eli Glasner, an entertainment reporter, film critic and screentime columnist for CBC News, has claimed the CWA Canada / CAJ Award for Labour Reporting.

His story, ‘I Just Broke Down Crying’: Canadian Video Game Creators Face Gruelling ‘Crunch’ Hours, was part of a series (Burnout: Stress At Work) led by The National.

It was a timely look at a huge industry in North America that is the target of an organizing effort by Game Workers Unite, which is supported by CWA Canada.

Other CWA Canada members who were honored include:

• Cullen Crozier, Brittany Guyot, Holly Moore of APTN Investigates (Open Broadcast Feature) for Broken Circle.
• Blair Crawford, Elizabeth Payne, Kelly Egan, Jon Willing, Shaamini Yogaretnam, Taylor Blewett, Joanne Laucius, Wayne Cuddington, Julie Oliver of The Ottawa Citizen (Daily Excellence) for Westboro Bus Crash.
• Christopher Curtis of The Montreal Gazette (APTN / CAJ Reconciliation Award) for portfolio entry: Northbound On A Flight That’s A Lifeline For The Inuit.
• Emma McIntosh of the National Observer, who shared the JHR / CAJ Award for Human Rights Reporting with a Toronto Star reporter, for How Alberta Kept Fort McKay First Nation In The Dark About A Toxic Cloud From The Oilsands.
• Katrina Clarke (who has since left The Daily Gleaner in Fredericton) won in the Community Media category for A Shot In The Dark: New Brunswick School Vaccination Policies.

The Regina Leader-Post and National Observer, whose reporters are represented by CWA Canada, shared the Data Journalism Award for Tainted Water. The investigation involving 10 media organizations and nine universities revealed that Canada has a major problem with lead in drinking water.

The CAJ awards were presented online at the end of May, with finalists taking part in a video conference, which was livestreamed on Facebook.