RTDNA Canada unveils national Lifetime Achievement Award recipients

RTDNA Canada has announced its national Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, set to be honoured at its National Awards Gala on Nov. 2 in Toronto.

This year’s honourees include Susan Marjetti, former General Manager of News, Current Affairs and Local Services, at CBC News, who retired from the public broadcaster in January.

Marjetti had a 45-year career in Canadian media, 35 of those years with the public broadcaster. Originally from Cape Breton, she started her career at CFRB Toronto in the early 1980s, while still a student at Ryerson University, working on the switchboard and cutting tape. She worked in private radio for a decade before joining CBC Halifax in 1988. She moved into the role of Senior Managing Director for CBC Toronto and the Ontario region in 2001, leading Metro Morning and CBC Radio Toronto to move into the number-one spot in the market. After 14 years, she went on to helm CBC Radio and Audio for nearly five years as Executive Director and helped launch CBC Podcasts. She assumed the General Manager role at the outset of the pandemic in 2020.

Marjetti has previously been recognized with the Radio Trailblazers’ Rosalie Award, recognizing women who’ve blazed new trails in radio, and is an inductee of the Wall of Fame at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson).

Beverly Thomson is also being honoured for her 30-year career a former anchor at CTV Toronto, Global News and most recently CTV News Channel. She is best known for co-hosting CTV morning show Canada AM from 2003, until the program signed off in 2016.

In 2019, Thomson – who started her career in radio in 1987 after graduating from Seneca College’s Radio and Television Broadcasting program – was named a Member of the Order of Canada. She was the 2006 recipient of the Humanitarian Award from the Gemini Awards (now Canadian Screen Awards). In  2009, she was appointed by the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward, as the National Ambassador for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

Mark Blanchard, Global News’ former Manager of Resources and News Gathering, will also be posthumously recognized by RTDNA. Blanchard passed away suddenly at his home in Nova Scotia in June at the age of 55.

Blanchard started his career in print in Halifax, working with The Chronicle Herald and Halifax Daily News. His move into broadcast news began with a writing stint at CBC Radio Nova Scotia and Standard Broadcast News in Toronto. He went on to write for Canada AM, CTV Halifax, and CNN in Atlanta, before freelancing for The Washington Post, among other publications. He’d been with Global News for 23 years as a writer, producer, technical producer, and most recently manager of network resources, ensuring crews got where they needed to be.

“Each year, RTDNA Canada has the honour of recognizing individuals who have set the highest journalistic standards throughout their career and inspired countless people along the way,” said RTDNA Canada President Lis Travers, in an announcement. “On behalf of RTDNA Canada, I congratulate this year’s recipients of an RTDNA Canada National Lifetime Achievement award. I thank each of you for your commitment and the tremendous contribution you have made to our industry.”