CBC Montreal, Quebec win 12 RTDNA journalism awards
CBC News | Posted: April 19, 2018 9:54 PM | Last Updated: April 21, 2018
Honours include coverage of Quebec City mosque shooting, spring flooding and Montreal's 375th
CBC journalists in Montreal and Quebec City have won a dozen RTDNA Canada awards for the Central Canada region for their work in 2017.
The RTDNA awards recognize journalistic excellence in individual reporting, as well as for programs and stations across radio, television and digital platforms.
CBC Montreal's web team won six awards for its digital coverage. That includes winning, for the fourth consecutive year, the Digital Media Award for best large-market website.
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In radio, CBC News took home four prizes, including best podcast for Montreapolis and best breaking news on radio for coverage of last spring's flooding.
In television, CBC Montreal News at 6 won two awards — one in the category of short feature for a look behind the scenes of the far-right group La Meute, the other in the diversity category, for a series looking into the life and death of Anthony Griffin.
Here is a breakdown of the winning stories:
Spring flooding
CBC's coverage of last spring's floods across the province was recognized, winning the Charlie Edwards award for spot news on both radio and digital platforms.
Online, CBC Montreal was a live, reliable and important source of information for people, many of whom were forced from their homes with little more than a bag and a cell phone, including on May 3, 2017, when flood waters submerged Île Mercier in Montreal.
The awards committee recognized the coverage on CBC Radio on Sunday, May 7 as broadcasters Sean Henry and Sonali Karnick brought listeners vital information as the situation developed.
Reporter Simon Nakonechny reported from Pointe-Fortune, on the Ottawa River, and Kate McKenna was on the scene in Pierrefonds-Roxboro with the latest developments from Montreal's West Island.
Data storytelling
In his award winning project, CBC Montreal's data journalist Roberto Rocha sifted through 10,000 Kickstarter projects to find out what winning projects have in common.
It turns out Kickstarter reflects what we know about various cities' strengths: Toronto is good at tech and design, Montreal at games, Vancouver at films.
3 awards for reflecting Quebec's diversity
Journalists at CBC Montreal and Quebec took home all three Adrienne Clarkson Diversity awards — one prize for each media platform.
Digital journalist Benjamin Shingler gave the audience a rare chance to meet the man who brings Montreal's most famous drag queen star, Mado, to life night after night, in an online article and short video documentary.
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In the radio category, CBC's roving regional journalist Marika Wheeler won the prize for diversity, bringing us a story from Salluit, Que., located at the northern tip of the province.
For decades, women in the community had to travel hundreds of kilometres, to central Quebec or northern Ontario, to give birth. But all that's changed since 2004, when a midwife-run maternity centre was set up in a rural hospital in the community.
The winner in the TV category was our series His name was Anthony.
Anthony Griffin was an unarmed 19-year-old black man killed by Montreal police on Nov. 11, 1987. On the 30th anniversary of his death, CBC journalists Antoni Nerestant, Dionne Codrington and Cassandra Leader took a look back at the fatal police shooting.
The series told Griffin's story and explored whether police relations have changed since his death 30 years ago.
Montreal turns 375
In the digital category of special events coverage, CBC earned the Gord Sinclair Award for the way it marked Montreal's historic 375th birthday all year long.
The coverage included Benjamin Shingler's critical analysis of the projects and spending, as well as a range of interactive ways of helping Montrealers learn more about their city online.
CBC journalists Sabrina Marandola, Melinda Dalton, Molly Kohli, Laurène Jardin and Sara DuBreuil embarked on a major multimedia storytelling project, Roots of Montreal, to explore the personal stories of seven of Montreal's cultural communities and how they have shaped the city into what it is today.
Best podcast
CBC also picked up an RTDNA award for best podcast for Montreapolis.
Co-produced by Carrie Haber and Sara DuBreuil and hosted by journalist Steve Rukavina, the series presented candid conversations with Montrealers from across the city's ever-evolving landscape, each offering their unique perspective on life in today's Montreal.
One man's story of conjugal violence
CBC's radio feature telling a police officer's story of intimate partner violence won the Dave Rogers Award.
Daybreak's Shari Okeke shed light on a man's experience living with a female partner who was verbally, emotionally and physically abusive.
Inside La Meute wins short TV feature
In the weeks prior to the deadly shooting at a Quebec City mosque, CBC Montreal journalist Jonathan Montpetit completed a series entitled Inside Quebec's far right, based on exclusive access to a shadowy network of extremist groups.
Montpetit's continuing coverage and this four-minute exclusive report earned him the Dave Rogers Award in the television category of short feature. The feature — Out of the Shadows: Inside La Meute — was co-produced by social media editor Molly Kohli.
Best continuing coverage for mosque shooting
CBC's online team won the Ron Laidlaw award for best continuing coverage in the digital category.
The coverage ranged from breaking stories on the investigation, live blogs, personal stories of survival and loss, and analysis of the tensions and fears in the community.