Eight UBC Journalism students and alumni are finalists in the 2017 Jack Webster Awards.
Their stories are featured in six categories in what are considered B.C.’s top journalism honours.
“The nominations reward the talent of our graduates and their commitment to public service journalism,” said School of Journalism director Alfred Hermida.
“They are an inspiration to all our journalism students as we begin a new academic year.”
Rachel Sanders, who graduated in May as the School’s top student, is nominated in the Business, Industry and Economics category for her story “Slaves to Tips: How BC Laws Fuel Sexism on the Job.”
The three-part series in The Tyee dove into the troublesome labour practices and sexism in B.C.’s restaurant industry and prompted the B.C. government to revamp legislation.
Sanders came up with the pitch last fall in the School of Journalism’s feature writing class and developed her story under the guidance of adjunct professors David Beers and James MacKinnon.
Katic is part of the Cited podcast team.
Student Alexander Kim is nominated alongside recent alumnus Gordon Katic and a group of reporters for their audio documentary “The Heroin Clinic.”
A collaboration between the Cited podcast and The Georgia Straight, the 47-minute piece examines heroin addiction and aired on NPR stations across the U.S.
J-school alumnus Sunny Dhillon was part of a Globe and Mail reporting team that produced the feature, “Cheque Day.”
It details 24 hours in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on the day that social assistance cheques come in.
The project, up for Breaking News Reporting in Print, was also partly reported by alumnus Luiz Lopes during his two-week internship at the Globe’s B.C. bureau.
Johnson is at CBC Vancouver.
Alumna Lisa Johnson is part of the CBC Vancouver team nominated in television enterprise and feature reporting for the project “Frontlines of Fentanyl.”
An online CBC Vancouver project titled “The Fentanyl Fix” is nominated in the Science, Technology, Health and Environment category. Alumna Maryse Zeidler contributed to that series.
Alumnus Matt Robinson is nominated in the Legal Journalism category for his Vancouver Sun story, “The Tallio Appeal,” alongside reporter Dan Fumano.
Their story shed a light on the case of Phillip Tallio, who was convicted for murder in 1984 and has since maintained his innocence.
The winners will be announced Oct. 12 at a gala in downtown Vancouver.
