Young reporters from Guelph Mercury and Toronto Star win Goff Penny Awards

 Newspapers Canada is pleased to announce that Eric Andrew-Gee and Alex Migdal have been named the winners of the 24th annual Hon. Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prizes for Young Canadian Journalists.

Circulation Over 25,000 – Eric Andrew-Gee, Staff Reporter, Toronto Star.
Eric impressed the judges with his well-researched and unique feature on the video of the highly publicized Sammy Yatim death by police shooting. His unique angle of creating a biography of the video coupled with interviewing the major parties involved enabled him to demonstrate the importance of the video to the case. His submission package also included a piece titled “TTC in 18,000 crashes since 2009” which shed light on the alarming number of crashes by Toronto Transit Commission buses, streetcars and Wheel-Trans vehicles between 2009 and 2013.

Circulation 25,000 and Under – Alex Migdal, former staff reporter, Guelph Mercury
Alex earned the judges’ praises for his health-lifestyle reporting piece titled “Guelph doctor goes against the grain with low-carb diet.” In his story he captures Dr. Anna Issakoff-Meller’s mission and her passion to help change the way the community eats by encouraging a low-carb diet. Other stories submitted included a piece on the 20th anniversary of the fatal Guelph car crash that sparked the creation of Ontario’s graduated licensing program.

Newspapers Canada would like to thank the judges, Carl Fleming, managing editor at the Cape Breton Post, Clint Harris, publisher and general manager at The Chronicle-Journal and Margo Goodhand, editor in chief at The Edmonton Journal. We’d also like to thank all the young journalists who participated in this year’s competition.

Both winners will be awarded the Goff Penny Memorial Prizes at a luncheon on Friday, May 22, during the Newspaper’s Canada’s National Conference in Toronto, ON.

To learn more about the winners and to view their winning submissions please click here.

For more information about the Goff Penny Memorial Prizes for Young Journalists contact Taylor Kormann at tkormann@newspaperscanada.ca.