Announcing the four finalists for this year’s Fraser MacDougall Prize for Best New Canadian Voice in Human Rights Reporting

The National NewsMedia Council (NNC), in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), is pleased to announce the short list of four finalists for the 2020-21 Fraser MacDougall Prize for Best New Canadian Voice in Human Rights Reporting.

This year’s shortlist was chosen from numerous outstanding submissions made by campus news organizations spread across the country.

“It is so encouraging to see student journalists embracing the best standards in reporting, especially in the crucial area of human rights,” said John Fraser, the NNC’s executive chair, who served as one of the judges for this year’s entries. 

“We have had the most entries since the new Fraser MacDougall Prize was launched by the NNC and JHR four years ago, and all of them were solid and important efforts.”

The finalists for this year’s awards are (in no particular order):

  1. “Lip service: BIPOC students at Rye feel unsupported by the complaint process,” The Eyeopener.
  2. “Centre tries to fill gap in Indigenous language program in Ottawa,” Capital Current.
  3. The price of swapping fast fashion for sustainability,” The Charlatan.
  4. Pandemic intensifies silent sorrow of Canada’s asylum seekers,” Capital Current.

The Fraser MacDougall Prize for Best New Canadian Voice in Human Rights Reporting was first presented in 2017, as a way to support young journalists to report on challenging, high-impact human rights issues. Past recipients of the award can be found here

Award winners receive a cash prize of $1,000, and are recognized for their achievement at the annual JHR ‘Night 4 Rights’ Gala. Information about that event can be found here

The winners for this year’s competition will be notified by October 8, 2021.