Young reporters at News Media Canada-member daily newspapers are invited to submit their best work from 2018 for consideration for the 28th annual Hon. Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prizes for Young Journalists.
This annual competition is open to daily newspaper journalists between the ages of 20 and 25 working for News Media Canada-member daily newspapers. Young freelance journalists and student interns whose work has been published in a News Media Canada-member daily newspaper are also eligible to enter.
Competition winners are awarded cash prizes of $1,000 in two circulation categories, Under 25,000 and 25,000 and Over. Entrants must be between the ages of 20 and 25 as of March 31, 2019, in order to be eligible for consideration. All entries must be received by Thursday, February 28, 2019.
Recent winners include Sarah Seeley of the Moncton Times & Transcript, Zane Schwartz of the National Post, Jane Gerster of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald, Andrea Peacock of the Kelowna Daily Courier, and Andrea Hill of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, whose award-winning work can be viewed here.
Numerous Goff Penny Award winners have gone on to prolific journalism and writing careers, including the following:
- Two-time winner Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star currently serves as the Star’s Washington bureau chief and Donald Trump fact-checker with over half a million Twitter followers;
- Two-time winner Luiza Chwialkowska Savage, who won for her work in the National Post, received a Knight Fellowship in Law for Journalists at Yale Law School, served as Washington bureau chief for Maclean’s, and is currently editorial director of cross-platform content for POLITICO;
- Two-time winner Sean Silcoff, who won for his work in the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, went on to become a columnist and bureau chief at the National Post and co-authored his first book, Losing the Signal, in 2015 about the rise and fall of Blackberry;
- Omar El Akkad, winner for his work in The Globe and Mail, covered major international stories for The Globe and Mail, including the war in Afghanistan, military trials at Guantanamo Bay, the Arab Spring in Egypt, and the Black Lives Matter movement in the western United States, and published his first novel, American War, in 2017;
- Elena Cherney, who won for her work in the Montreal Gazette, served as editor, Report on Business, and managing editor at The Globe and Mail, and is currently Canada bureau chief and global resources editor at the Wall Street Journal.
If you know a young journalist with a passion for writing and investigative journalism, encourage them to enter. For rules of entry and more information, visit the Goff Penny Awards website or contact the awards coordinator at goffpenny@newsmediacanada.ca.
