Young reporters at News Media Canada member daily news media are invited to submit their best work from 2021 for consideration for the 31st 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, 2022, in order to be eligible for consideration.
All entries must be received by Monday, February 28, 2022.
Recent winners, whose award winning work can be viewed here, include Victoria Gibson of the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, Marissa Lentz of The Peterborough Examiner, Zak Vescera of the Saskatoon-StarPhoenix, Vancouver Sun and The Province, Nick Dunne of the Standard-Freeholder.
Numerous Goff Penny Award winners have gone on to prolific journalism and writing careers, including the following:
- Jane Gerster, who won in for her work with the Moose JawTimes-Herald in Saskatchewan, was a 2018 Logan Nonfiction Fellow with the Carey Institute for Global Good, and went on to report at the Winnipeg Free Press, served as a 2019 Kiplinger fellow, a features reporter at Global News and is currently working as an independent reporter who specializes in feature writing.
- Rachel Mendelson, who won for her work at the former Daily News in Halifax, went on to work at Maclean’s, Canadian Business, and The Huffington Post, and is currently an investigative reporter at Toronto Star.
- Lee Berthiaume, who won for his work at the Woodstock Sentinel-Review, served as managing editor at Embassy Magazine, Parliamentary reporter for Postmedia Network and the Ottawa Citizen, and is currently defence and veterans affairs reporter for The Canadian Press.
- Two-time winner Zane Schwartz, who won for his work with The National Post and with the Calgary Herald, was previously a staff reporter at Maclean’s, and senior reporter for Toronto-based investigative news outlet The Logic and is currently the CEO of the Investigative Journalism Foundation.
- Two-time winner Luiza Chwialkowska Savage, who won for her work with The National Post, served as Washington bureau chief for Maclean’s, and is currently executive editor for POLITICO.
- Two time winner Daniel Dale is a reporter at CNN’s Washington Bureau, where he fact-checks political claims. Prior to that, he spent 11 years at the Toronto Star, where he was the Washington Bureau chief, city hall reporter and bureau chief.
For rules of entry and more information, visit the Goff Penny Awards or contact the awards coordinator at goffpenny@newsmediacanada.ca
