UBC Journalism students Lisa Hale and Calyn Shaw have won two of the six Jack Webster Student Journalism Awards for 2011.
The awards recognize students who have demonstrated their dedication to the profession of journalism.
The other winners are Emma Crawford from Langara College, Kimiya Shokoohi from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Carmen Weld from British Columbia Institute of Technology and Jason M. Perry from Thompson Rivers University.
Each student will receive $2,000 towards tuition.
Lisa Hale is a second-year graduate student at the UBC School of Journalism. Prior to entering the Journalism School, she earned both her BA and MA at UBC in Sociology.
As a Vancouver-based freelance journalist and broadcaster, her work has appeared on TheTyee.ca and in the Slovenian newspaper Delo’s weekend magazine, Polet. She is a contributor to CBC’s Dispatches program, filing radio documentaries on human rights, culture and social change from the former Yugoslavia and the rest of the Balkans.
Calyn earned his BA in Political Science in 2004 at the University of Victoria. Following his graduation he volunteered in Ethiopia conducting HIV/AIDS education workshops for youth in rural communities. He continued his work on HIV/AIDS in 2005/2006, spending six months in Ghana as an intern for CIDA. Calyn completed an MA in globalization and development politics in 2007 at the University of Warwick.
Upon his return to Canada, Calyn took a position with STAND, Canada’s leading Darfur advocacy organization. He moved back to Vancouver in 2009 to take a position with the ISIS Research Centre at the UBC Sauder School of Business.
As a Research Fellow, Calyn worked first on the Open Health Initiative investigating innovative financing for neglected disease drug development, and then as part of the Climate Intelligence Unit researching climate policy in British Columbia. He returned to school in 2010 and is currently a second-year graduate student at the UBC School of Journalism.
The Jack Webster Foundation was established in 1986 to recognize and encourage excellence in BC-based journalism in the name of Jack Webster and his legacy of insightful, accurate and uncompromising reporting during his more than 40 years of print, radio and television journalism.
The Student Journalism Awards program is generously sponsored by the Hospital Employees’ Union, BC Hydro, the Dennis Skulsky Student Journalism Fund and the Don Matheson Endowment.
A total of 99 BC journalism students have received educational funding since the program was initiated in 2001. Among UBC journalism students who have received the award in the past are Ryan Elias, Cecilia Greyson, Cynthia Yoo, Megan Stewart and Alison Cross.
The Jack Webster Foundation is made possible by the generous sponsorship of BCLC, CGA Association, CN, FortisBC, HSBC Bank Canada, Labatt Breweries, Port Metro Vancouver, Teck, Telus and WorkSafeBC.
(Photo of the Jack Webster Student Journalism Award winners by Dave Thomson)
