Prof. Alfred Hermida’s blog on the changing nature of journalism, Reportr.net, has won a prestigious Canadian Online Publishing Award.
The site was named Best Blog at an awards ceremony in Toronto on Wednesday Oct. 20.
Through Reportr.net, Prof. Hermida provides insightful comment and analysis of trends in new media and society, such social media, participatory journalism and journalism education.
“It is an honour to be recognized as among the best in online media in Canada,” said Hermida.
“Congratulations to all the winners and nominees, evidence of the strength and vibrancy of the online media community in this country.”
Two other UBC journalism projects by students were also up for awards. Student Daniel Hallen was nominated for best video and journalism alumni Amanda Ash for best community feature.
Two journalism alumni, Megan Stewart and Darren Fleet, won the award for Best Articles for a series on the Vancouver Observer called Lost Canadians.
Launched in 2009, the Canadian Online Publishing Awards recognize Canada’s best online editorial and design work in publication websites. Websites are reviewed by a panel of industry experts and winners are selected in eleven categories, split into three divisions.
Hermida’s blog won in the business-to-business, professional association, farm and scholarly division.
Hermida started blogging in 2004 during his time as a senior editor at the BBC News website. He created the BBC’s first live blog in 2006.
He launched Reportr.net in September 2006, shortly after joining the UBC Graduate School of Journalism.
“Through blogging, academics can provide a window in their work, engage with readers, and make their research accessible to a broad audience,” said Hermida.
“I see blogging as part of my as an academic role to provide new ways of looking and understanding our world, to use the new technologies to experiment with ways of sharing and engaging with a range of publics.”
