LJI reporter wins major international award

News Media Canada is incredibly proud to share that Matteo Cimellaro, a Local Journalism Initiative reporter working with Canada’s National Observer, has been recognized by Covering Climate Now with an international award for his coverage of First Nations and wildfires.

Covering Climate Now is a global journalism organization co-founded by the Columbia Journalism Review. Cimellaro’s story won the award in the competition’s justice category ahead of more than 1250 entries.

The jury wrote: “Wildfires in Canada have devastated communities across the country — but none more so than those of First Nations. In this ambitious series from Canada’s National Observer, journalist Matteo Cimellaro weaves together human-focused narratives, intimate photography, and thorough data work to show the harm that more than a decade of wildfires have caused Indigenous people, not least displacement from land they’ve called home for generations. Judges called the work immediately captivating and said it lands with a huge impact.”

You can read articles in his award-winning series here.

https://www.tiktok.com/@nationalobserver/video/7390435985139535109