Two Postmedia journalists win National Newspaper Awards

Vancouver Sun columnist Douglas Todd has won a National Newspaper Award for his thought-provoking feature story about B.C.’s mental-health system and whether his father, who was institutionalized for 20 years, would have survived the modern version of the system.

Todd, a veteran Postmedia journalist, received the William Southam award for long feature at an event in Toronto on Friday — one of 23 awards recognizing excellence and achievement in print journalism in Canada.

Another Postmedia journalist, Jane Sims of the London Free Press, won the Bob Levin award for short feature for her story about Salman Afzaal who, along with his family, was killed by a white nationalist terrorist in June 2021.

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National Newspaper Award winners

TORONTO, April 26, 2024 – A team from Sing Tao won the Special Topic Award on Friday, becoming the first journalists in the 75-year history of the National Newspaper Awards to be recognized for work done in a language other than French or English.

The journalists were honoured for the four-part series Embracing Canada, which explored the challenges faced by the second wave of immigrants from Hong Kong. Sing Tao is a Chinese-language publication, with offices in Vancouver and Toronto.

The series included interviews with recent immigrants and explored the shortcomings and future of Canada’s immigration pathway program, while also providing helpful information about entrepreneurship and healthcare in the country. Judges said it provided a comprehensive picture of what newcomers from Hong Kong will face in their new home.

The team from Sing Tao received one of 25 awards on the night, which ended with Doug Saunders of the Globe and Mail being named Journalist of the Year.

Saunders, who also won the Norman Webster Award for International Reporting, was selected by a panel of judges from among 17 winning entries submitted by one or two individuals.

Judges said: “The time, energy, personal risk and extraordinary ingenuity Doug Saunders put into this assignment produced the most detailed and touching portrait of migration on a global scale that our jury has ever seen. Saunders brought 21st-century tools and old-fashioned reporter’s instincts to this compelling package of interdisciplinary reporting.”

Read the full press release and list of winners here