UBC Journalism’s students have won a Sigma Delta Chi Award in online reporting for their 2014 project, “China’s Generation Green.”
The SDX awards, which are administered by the Society of Professional Journalists, recognize the best professional journalism in the U.S. and internationally.
The students produced the project on China’s environmental movement as part of the International Reporting Program.
They won in the category of non-deadline reporting for online independent media.
“To say that winning this award is a thrilling experience would be a dramatic understatement,” said UBC journalism graduate Katelyn Verstraten, who worked on the project.
“Being awarded the Sigma Delta Chi Award surpasses what I thought was possible to achieve as a journalism student, let alone a working journalist.”
Environmental challenges
The piece was chosen as one of 85 honourees out of 1,600 submissions.
It was the product of a year-long project on how young people in the country are trying to make a difference. Through a multimedia site that combines written content, audio, videos and photographs, “China’s Generation Green” tells the stories of these pioneers in the Chinese environmental movement.
“There are serious environmental challenges in China, but the bulk of media attention is on the problems — the smog in Beijing, the polluter rivers, the country’s status as leading carbon emitter,” said Prof Peter Klein, who teaches in the course.
“We wanted to focus on solutions, and present a different perspective on the story.”
This is the second win for “China’s Generation Green,” which also earned the Gold Medal in the Canadian Online Publishing Awards for Best Interactive Story.
It is the second Sigma Delta Chi win for International Reporting students
The 2009 project “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground,” took home an award for television documentary.
