Finalists for 2021 Webster Awards Announced

VANCOUVER, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW/ - The finalists in the 16 different categories for the 2021 Webster Awards, Western Canada's preeminent journalism awards, were announced today.  The awards recognize excellence in journalism in B.C.  All finalists will be celebrated, and the one winner in each category will be announced during the November 3rd online awards ceremony, 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time.  This online event is free for everyone to watch and can be accessed at this web address: www.ohboy.ca/websterawards2021.

Submissions were encouraged from print, radio/podcasts, television and online media sources that cover news, sports, the arts, business, community issues, and more.

2021 Webster Awards Finalists

Finalists - Excellence in Feature/Enterprise Reporting – TV
-April Lawrence, CHEK News for Our Youngest Victims: How BC's opioid crisis is killing children

-CTV News Team, CTV News Vancouver for Unmarked Graves: Canada's Reckoning

-Paul Johnson, Rumina Daya, Darrel Patton, Global BC for Smugglers Inn

Finalists - Excellence in Feature/Enterprise Reporting – Radio/Podcast
-Laura Palmer, Rogers Frequency Network for Gone Boys: Island Crime Season 2

-Cathy Browne, Catherine Rolfsen, Stephen Quinn, The Early Edition – CBC Vancouver for Access Denied

-Faith Fundal, Andrew Kurjata, Will Howie, CBC Prince George for They & Us

Finalists - Excellence in Feature/Enterprise Reporting – Print/Online
-Kim Bolan, The Vancouver Sun for Anatomy of a Hit

-Don Urquhart, Osoyoos Times-Chronicle for COVID-19 and the impact on elder care in B.C.

-Kathy Tomlinson, The Globe and Mail for WCB's Opioid Addiction

Finalists - Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion Reporting
-Christopher Cheung, The Tyee for Left behind in a pandemic

-Neetu Garcha, Global BC for Indian farmers' protests

-Erin Haluschak, Comox Valley Record for Valley woman makes historic name change for truth and reconciliation

Finalists - Excellence in Business, Industry, Labour & Economics Reporting
Endowed by Jean Cormier

-Andrew MacLeod, The Tyee for The Corporate Push into B.C.'s Primary Care System: A Tyee Series

-Frances Bula, The Globe and Mail for Vancouver's housing permitting crisis

-Margaret Gallagher, CBC Radio for Retail Therapy: Local businesses battle the pandemic

Finalists - Excellence in Legal Reporting
Sponsored by the Law Society of British Columbia

-Rumina Daya, Global BC for IHIT Jeopardizes Cases

-Jason Proctor, Stephen Quinn, Vivian Luk, Natasha Aziz, Theresa Duvall, CBC Vancouver for Sanctioned: Double Criminality

-Dan Fumano, The Vancouver Sun for The Police and City Hall

Finalists - Excellence in Technology Reporting
-Bryan Carney, The Tyee for You Have Zero Privacy Says an Internal RCMP Presentation. Inside the Force's Web Spying Program

-Brent Jang, The Globe and Mail for Ballard Power Systems

-Braden Dupuis, Clare Ogilvie, Pique Newsmagazine for Hackers had 'deep' access to Whistler systems, docs show

Finalists - Excellence in Health Reporting
-Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun & Province for Overdoses, B.C.'s original health crisis, worsen during COVID pandemic

-Keith Baldrey, Richard Zussman, John Hua, Grace Ke, Sophie Lui, Chris Gailus, Marsha Gabriel, Emad Agahi, Jonathan Bartlett, Global BC for COVID-19; Team Coverage

-Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee for The rise of the variants and how to respond

Finalists - Excellence in Environment Reporting
-Russ Francis, Focus Magazine for Fossil fuels and the coronavirus

-'Cúagilákv (Jess Housty), Hakai Magazine for Thriving Together: Salmon, Berries, and People

-Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Canada's National Observer for Canada is drowning in plastic waste - and recycling won't save us

Finalists - Best Reporting in a Language other than English
-Jocelyn Wong, Fairchild Television for Magazine 26-Pandemic in BC Seniors Care Home

-Francis Plourde, Radio-Canada for Out of province travels in Whistler during the pandemic

-Barbara Lu, Judy Gong, Eric Zhang, Fairchild Radio for Asian Women of the Pandemic

Finalists – Excellence in Community Reporting
-Jessica Wallace, Kamloops This Week for Spending spree at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District?

-Tori Marlan, Jimmy Thomson, Brishti Basu, Capital Daily for Rape allegations connected to a popular bar lead to a reckoning for Victoria's restaurant culture

-Dustin Godfrey, Burnaby Now for The Last Pin Topples

Finalists – Excellence in Multimedia Journalism
-CBC Vancouver Team, CBC Vancouver for Unmasking Racism

-Andrea Woo, Marcus Gee, The Globe and Mail for Portraits of Loss: 100 Lives Felled by an Overdose Crisis

-Serena Renner, UBC Journalism Shorthand Stories for Revive: Humans in nature

Finalists – Commentator of the Year – City Mike Award
Presented in memory of Linda Webster

-Christopher Foulds, Kamloops This Week

-Les Leyne, Victoria Times Colonist

-Gary Mason, The Globe and Mail

Finalists - Best Breaking News Reporting– TV
Presented in memory of Keith Bradbury

-CTV News Team, CTV News Vancouver for Arson Spree - The day three masonic halls were set on fire

-Paul Johnson, Jim Helgason, Catherine Urquhart, Alex Sumner, Global BC for Unmarked Graves Discovery

-Emad Egahi, Sarah MacDonald, Coleen Christie, Annie Wong, Jordan Armstrong, Tony Clark, Brett Ballah, Global BC for YVR Shooting

Finalists - Best Breaking News Reporting– Radio
-John Streit, Toby Kerr, Emad Agahi, Jason Gilder, Gord Macdonald, 980 CKNW for YVR shooting

-John Copsey, Gord Macdonald, Janet Brown, Emily Lazatin, 980 CKNW for New Westminster pier fire

-Yvette Brend, Drew Kerekes, CBC News Vancouver for Pier Park Fire

Finalists - Best Breaking News Reporting– Print/Online
-Chelsea Powrie, Casey Richardson, Colin Dacre, Nich Johansen, Rob Gibson, Jon Manchester, Wayne Moore, Sarita Patel, Laura Brookes, Castanet News for Christie Mountain Wildfire grows, destroys home

-Aleksandra Sagan, Catherine McIntyre, The Logic for MEC: A co-op goes private

-Kim Bolan, Scott Brown, David Carrigg, Lori Culbert, Nathan Griffiths, Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun & Province for Lynn Valley Stabbings

Also, during the awards broadcast the 2021 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented as will the 2021 Bill Good Award.  The broadcast will be hosted by Chris Gailus, and Sophie Lui, both anchors with Global BC.

This year's Webster Awards are made possible by Presenting Sponsors:  BCGEU, FortisBC, Global Container Terminals Inc., Google, LNG Canada, Port of Vancouver; Supporting Sponsors:  BCIT, Langara, Jim Pattison Group, UDI and West Coast Reduction.  Webster Award partners are Oh Boy Productions, Glacier Media, and the Vancouver Sun and Province.  Cision is the exclusive distribution partner of the Jack Webster Foundation.

The Jack Webster Foundation was established in 1986, upon the retirement of its namesake, who was Western Canada's best-known and most influential reporter, in order to foster and celebrate excellence in journalism, protect the public interest for British Columbian's, and create a community where trusted outstanding journalism thrives.

SOURCE Jack Webster Foundation