The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) has launched new awards recognizing late journalists Janice Johnston and Geoffrey Stevens.
The Janice Johnston Award for Crime and Justice Reporting is the first CAJ Award named for a woman journalist. It will recognize stories that treat victims of crime with dignity and respect, “built on fair, accurate, rigorous and unflinching original reporting, and that hold the police and legal systems fearlessly to account.”
Johnston, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 62 after a brief battle with cancer, was a longtime crime and court reporter for CBC Edmonton.
“Janice Johnston was a trailblazing female reporter, and an inspiration and mentor to so many of us. I’m thrilled this award will celebrate her legacy as a fierce and compassionate journalist, and recognize excellent work in her honour, ,” said Jana G. Pruden, a fellow Edmonton-based crime reporter based in Edmonton who led fundraising for the award.
The Geoffrey Stevens Award for Local Government Reporting will recognize journalism that conveys deep knowledge of a municipal government, school board, First Nations band or other institution, uncovering how the body’s decision-making has real-world consequences in the community.
Stevens, who passed away in 2023 at 83, following a heart attack, was a reporter and former Queen’s Park Bureau Chief for the Globe and Mail, was a former Managing Editor of Maclean’s, and was a contributor to Time magazine and Waterloo Region’s The Record.
“The Geoffrey Stevens award is a perfect fit with his career in journalism,” said John Laschinger, a co-author of two books with Stevens, and chair of the committee of his friends and colleagues who established the award. “He started out covering City Hall in Toronto, and with the skills he learned there, as national political columnist with the Globe and Mail in Ottawa, the insights in his columns had a major impact on politics at all levels of government across the country.”
The Gold prize for each award will be worth $1,000, with Silver prize recipients to receive a certificate of recognition. They’ll be added to the existing roster of CAJ Awards, to be handed out during next year’s annual CAJ conference, set to take place June 12-13 at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Entries close on Jan. 13.
