Lauren Hunter, afternoon drive host on SONiC 102.9 FM (CHDI-FM) Edmonton, is the winner of the 2021 Allan Waters Young Broadcaster of the Year Award.
The award is presented annually to a young broadcaster under the age of 30 with Hunter to be recognized during Canadian Music Week’s (CMW) upcoming virtual event, May 18-21.
Hunter’s charitable contributions and viral social media bits have received hundreds of thousands of views over the years. One of the most memorable was her 2017 “McPortrait” of Edmonton Oilers’ Captain Connor McDavid which raised more than $26,000 for charity through the station’s sale of prints. Among her most recent efforts, Hunter raised over $1,000 for cancer research during Dry February.
The NAIT Radio & Television grad been with Rogers Sports & Media since 2014, starting out as a swing announcer on SONiC after previous stints with 104.9 Virgin Radio (CFMG-FM) Edmonton and SUN FM (CHSU-FM) Kelowna.
Happy #Halloween!!!
It took a while, but I finally finished my costume!
(…3 years behind schedule). #yeg #Edmonton pic.twitter.com/snCIZsV8cv
— Lauren Hunter (@HunterAtHome) October 31, 2017
The runners-up for the award were Shannon Burns of CHUM-FM/Virgin Radio Toronto and Mitch Burke of 680 News (CFTR-AM) Toronto.
Due to COVID-19 disruptions, the award was not presented in 2020. Circumstances permitting, the Young Broadcaster Award will resume in 2022. In the spirit of fairness, at that time the age requirement for the award will be increased to 31, for one year only.
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