Young journalists Jane Gerster and Zane Schwartz have been selected as the two recipients of the 26th annual Hon. Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prizes for Young Canadian Journalists.
In the small market category, reporter Jane Gerster won for her work with the Moose Jaw Times-Herald in Saskatchewan, where she worked from October 2016 to March 2017. Her entry submissions also included a variety of works: an illustrative piece on the night shift with the local police; an examination of local donations to Premier Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party; a feature story on the reopening of the community police academy; and a news story on a legal dispute between the City of Moose Jaw and a ticket service provider.
“We, and our readers, appreciated Jane’s writing talent during the time she spent at the Moose Jaw Times Herald,” said Roger Holmes, president of Star News Publishing Inc., which publishes the Times-Herald. ”She brought a sharp mind and a clean, crisp writing style that our readers enjoyed. She is indeed one of the bright young stars in Canadian journalism today.”
In the large market category, reporter Zane Schwartz won for his work with the National Post. Zane joined the National Post in mid-October 2016 as the 2017 Michelle Lang Fellow. His entry submissions included both serious pieces and lighthearted fare: a story exposing a ten-fold increase in foreign donations to the Trudeau Foundation after Justin Trudeau won the Liberal leadership; an investigative piece on the wealthy donors behind Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch; an insightful and evocative book review of David France’s How to Survive a Plague; and an entertaining piece about one researcher’s attempts to reduce the methane output of cows, which was one of the most-read items on the National Post’s website. Zane is now continuing his fellowship at the Calgary Herald.
“Zane brings an intense curiosity and tireless energy to his work, mining the most dense data and reports for rich material. His versatility — from deep investigations to quicker-turnaround crowd-pleasers — makes him a valuable asset in the newsroom,” said Anne Marie Owens, editor-in-chief of the National Post.
To view the winning works from these outstanding journalists, visit newsmediacanada.ca/goffpenny.
The Goff Penny Awards honour outstanding work published in daily newspapers by young Canadian journalists aged 20 to 25. News Media Canada thanks all of the young journalists and judges who participated in this year’s competition.
About the Hon. Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prizes for Young Canadian Journalists:
The Hon. Edward Goff Penny (1820-1881) rose from the position of reporter at the Montreal Herald in the late 1800s to editor and publisher. He was the first president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and in 1874 became the first newspaperman to be appointed to the Senate. The awards in his name were established in 1991 at the bequest of the estate of the late Arthur Guy Penny, another newspaper editor and Quebec civil servant who was Edward Goff Penny’s grandson.
The awards program is administered annually by News Media Canada and provides for cash prizes of $1,500 to winners in two circulation categories: Over 25,000 and 25,000 and under. The competition is open to journalists between the ages of 20 to 25 working for NMC-member daily newspapers.
For more information, please contact Tina Ongkeko, Managing Director, Member Services, at awards@newsmediacanada.ca.
