Finalists for 2023 Webster Awards Announced

Press Release

September 12th, 2023

Plus tickets now on sale for the Nov. 14th Gala Dinner/Awards Evening Featuring a Fireside Chat with Veteran Journalist/Anchor Lisa LaFlamme

(Vancouver, B.C.) — Finalists in the 14 categories for the 2023 Webster Awards, Western Canada’s preeminent journalism awards, were announced today. The awards recognize excellence in journalism in B.C. All finalists will be celebrated, and the winner in each category will be announced during the November 14th Webster Awards which this year will be a live, in-person gala dinner awards evening at the Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, no-host reception 4:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. with dinner and the awards beginning at 6:00 p.m.

This year’s event will feature Lisa LaFlamme, in a fireside chat hosted by CBC Vancouver’s Gloria Macarenko. The evening will be hosted by Anita Bathe, host of CBC’s Vancouver News at 6 and Paul Haysom, host of Vancouver Island’s CHEK News at 6.

The 2023 finalists announced today and detailed below were chosen by the Webster Awards jury, all members who are independent of the Jack Webster Foundation and its board. Submissions were encouraged from print, radio/podcasts, television and online media sources across B.C. that cover news, sports, the arts, business, community issues, and more.

2023 Webster Awards Finalists

Finalists – Best News Reporting of the Year (New this Year!)

Presented in Memory of Keith Bradbury

• Dan Fumano, Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun/The Province for Rental bias in strata
• Michele Brunoro, Alissa Thibault, St John Alexander, Penny Daflos, CTV Vancouver for BC’s Housing Crisis
• Sarah MacDonald, Clayton Little, Global BC for Failed in Life and Death: The Story of Noelle O’Soup

Finalists – Excellence in Investigative Journalism (New this Year!)

• Laura Palmer, Rogers Frequency Podcast Network for The Man in the Brown Van : Part

1 Island Crime Season 3

• Stefan Labbé, Coast Reporter for Deforestation Inc.: Who is behind B.C.’s pulp and paper giant?
• Nancy Maconald, Mike Hager, The Globe and Mail for The Blue Wall of Police Accountability

Finalists – Excellence in Arts and Culture Reporting (New this Year!)

-Marsha Lederman, The Globe and Mail for Arts in the Crosshairs

-Elizabeth McSheffrey, Global BC for ‘They tried to extinguish us’: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh elder shares healing from residential school

-Dorothy Woodend, The Tyee for A Charm Bracelet, a Chandelier and Where Public Art Turns Dark

Finalists – Excellence in Feature Reporting (New this Year!)

• B. MacKinnon, Hakai Magazine for The Demon River
• Yuriy Umansky, The Tyee for Escape from Crimea to Canada
• Amy Romer, Harley Rustad, Luc Uprichard, The Walrus for “The New Residential School System”: How a First Nation Rallied against the Foster Care System

Finalists – Excellence in Health Reporting

-Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun for Would my dad have survived today’s mental-health system?

-Andrea Woo, The Globe and Mail for The Decline of Cancer Care in B.C. – Paul Johnson , Cody Chaban, Global BC for Diversion of Drugs

Finalists – Excellence in Technology Reporting

• Aleksandra Sagan, The Logic for Cracks in the mirror: The uncertain future of Lululemon’s half-billion-dollar smart-fitness bet
• Kate Wilson, Vancouver Tech Journal for Microsoft president Brad Smith is leading the vision of a connected Cascadia
• Tyler Harper, Nelson Star for This story about AI was written by a human

Finalists — Excellence in Legal Journalism

-Mike Hager, The Globe and Mail for B.C.’s Broken Bail System

• Jen St. Denis, Moira Wyton, The Tyee for Then Gunshots from Police. Inside

Dani Cooper’s Death

• Francesca Fionda, The Narwhal for This Court Case Could Change the Future of Mining in C.

Finalists – Excellence in Environment Reporting

• Ainslie Cruickshank, The Narwhal for The worst house guests: European green crabs are invading B.C. waters
• Tyler Harper, Nelson Star for Kokanee Glacier can’t be saved
• Francesca Fionda, Aldyn Chwelos, Gage Smith, Geena Mortfield, Michael Lo, Christina Gervais, Amber Bear, Emilie Wren, Sean Holman, Jen Osborne, Philip McLachlan, Andrew Munroe, Jens von Bergmann, David Beers, The Tyee for Bracing for Disasters

Finalists – Excellence in Reporting in a Language other than English

-Harjinder Thind, Pooja Sekhon, Gurvinder Hanjra, RedFM for Surrey Health Care in Crisis – An In Depth Report

• Yuji Zhang, Ricky Tong, Jerome Evans, Charlene Ling, OMNI TV for A Century of Resilience: Overcoming and Learning from the Chinese Exclusion Act
• Ada Luk, Fairchild Television for Magazine 26 – Speechless No More

Finalists – Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Reporting

• Dan Fumano, Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun/The Province for First Nations’ real estate megaprojects game-changing for Metro Vancouver
• Christopher Cheung, The Tyee for Under the White Gaze
• Amanda Follett Hosgood, The Tyee for 70 Years after the Flood: Cheslatta’s Fight to

Reclaim Its Territory

Finalists – Excellence in Community Reporting Presented by the Al Roadburg Foundation

-Louise Dickson, Times Colonist for Death at 844 Johnson: “We both knew this building was going to kill him.”

• Anna McKenzie, Shalu Mehta, IndigiNews for Two-part series: Community rallies for Carsyn Seaweed
• Mike Howell, Vancouver is Awesome for Downtown Eastside emergency: An inside look at B.C.’s busiest fire hall

Finalists – Excellence in Multimedia Journalism

• Nancy Macdonald, Melissa Renwick, The Globe and Mail for How to Surf Into The Olympics
• Matt Simmons, The Narwhal for The complicated truth about pipelines crossing Wet’suwet’en territory
• Amanda Follett Hosgood, Katarina Sabados, Emma Gillies, Mashal Butt, The

Tyee/Global Reporting Program UBC/Global Reporting Centre for Disaster Land Grabs Worldwide and in British Columbia

Finalists — Commentator of the Year – City Mike Award

Presented in memory of Linda Webster

-Eden Fineday, IndigiNews

-Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

-Rob Shaw, CHEK News/Glacier Media/Daily Hive

Finalists – Excellence in Business, Industry, & Labour Reporting Endowed by Jean Cormier

-Team Business in Vancouver, Business in Vancouver for Business Election Action List

• Ben Parfitt, The Tyee for Big Risks, Long Hours, Low Pay: The Lives of BC Log Truckers
• Nicola Jones, Hakai Magazine for Banking on the Seaweed Rush

At the 2023 Webster Awards event on November 14th, the 2023 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Frances Bula, the 2023 Bill Good Award will be presented to the Global Reporting Centre, and the Shelley Fralic Award will be presented to Sophie Lui of Global BC.

This year’s Webster Awards are made possible by Presenting Sponsors: BCGEU, FortisBC, Global Container Terminals Inc., LNG Canada, Port of Vancouver, TELUS Health, the Urban Development Institute, Pacific Region and West Coast Reduction; Supporting Sponsors: Coast Communications, Concord Pacific, KPU, Langara, Ledcor Group, Seaspan, RedFM and YVR. Webster Award partners are Oh Boy Productions, Glacier Media, and the Vancouver Sun and Province. Cision is the exclusive distribution partner of the Jack Webster Foundation.

The Jack Webster Foundation was established in 1986, upon the retirement of its namesake, who was Western Canada’s best-known and most influential reporter, in order to foster and celebrate excellence in journalism, protect the public interest for British Columbian’s, and create a community where trusted outstanding journalism thrives.

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For more information, contact:

Janet Mitchell, Executive Director

Jack Webster Foundation, T 604-603-4218

E info@jackwebster.com W www.jackwebster.com

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