NIAGARA, August 13th, 2010 - - A team from the Victoria Times Colonist and a team from Radio-Canada's Enquête are the winners of the eleventh annual Justicia Awards for Excellence in Journalism.
The Justicia Awards are sponsored by the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and the Department of Justice Canada. The Awards recognize outstanding journalism that fosters public awareness and understanding of any aspect of the Canadian justice system and the roles played by institutions and participants in the legal system.
A team from Radio-Canada's Enquête, including journalist Pasquale Turbide and producer Johanne Bonneau, is the winner in the broadcast category for a February 2010 show "Délateurs en liberté" on the practice of paying informants. The program follows the stories of three paid informants with criminal pasts who received shortened prison terms for their testimony during the 1994 to 2006 biker wars in Quebec. The result is a gritty exposé into the secretive world of informants, and the officers of justice who work with them. "The reportage raises legal and moral issues surrounding the payment of informers, and provides insight on a topic not well understood by the public, but of critical importance to the principles of justice and the preservation of a safe society," the Justicia jury said.
A team from the Victoria Times Colonist, including reporters Louise Dickson, Lindsay Kines and Rob Shaw, editorial writer Dave Obee, columnist Les Leyne, and city editor Stephanie Coombs, is the winner in the print category for a series on access to information in the B.C. courts, published in February 2010. The series revealed many inconsistencies, sparking a reaction of concern from the B.C. Supreme and Provincial courts, which resulted in dramatic changes to justice policy in the province. The Justicia jury said this investigative series best fulfilled the role that the Justicia Awards were created to encourage. "The series exemplifies professional investigative journalism at its best, and the conclusions it draws are flawless."
The Justicia Awards, which take the form of bronze statuettes, will be presented at the CBA Awards Lunch on Saturday, August 14, 2010, in Niagara at the Sheraton on the Falls, Great Room C from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. The event is open to accredited media. Please contact Hannah Bernstein for accreditation.
The entries were judged by Judge Sean Dunnigan of the Provincial Court of Alberta; Pierre Allard, a journalist and legal translator from Gatineau, Quebec; and Stephen McPhee, a lawyer and member of the CBA Communications Committee from Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Last year's winners were Peter McKnight of the Vancouver Sun for his articles on crime and punishment; and reporter Mia Sosiak, photographers George Glen and Bruce Aalhus and editor Joe McDaid, for their television series "Court of Hope" on Global News Calgary, which examined Calgary's successful drug treatment court.
The criteria for judging entries are accuracy, effectiveness in explaining legal issues to the public, informational value, insight and originality. This year's submissions were published or broadcast between May 16, 2009 and May 15, 2010.
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