The end of my short-lived obsession:

For Kamila:

Good news

Goff Penny winners announced

15 April 2009 - 8:46am

Corina Milic, formerly of The Sault Star, and James Bradshaw of The Globe and Mail are the 2008 winners of the Hon. Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prizes for Young Canadian Journalists.

The awards program, administered by the Canadian Newspaper Association, provides for cash prizes of $1,500 to the winners in each circulation category, under 25,000 and over 25,000. The competition is open to journalists between the ages of 20-25 working for CNA member newspapers. The competition began in 1992. This is the 18th year for this award.

The Hon. Edward Goff Penny (1820-1881) rose from the position of reporter at the Montreal Herald in the late 1800s to editor and publisher. He was the first president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and in 1874 became the first newspaperman to be appointed to the Senate. The awards in his name were established in 1991 at the bequest of the estate of the late Arthur Guy Penny, another newspaper editor and Quebec civil servant who was Edward Goff Penny's grandson. Arthur G. Penny, who died in 1963, asked that these prizes go specifically to young journalists between the ages of 20-25, and he set out the criteria by which the works were to be judged.

The judging, which was based on works published in 2008, was done by three senior editors selected by the CNA. Points were awarded to each entrant and the points were tabulated by CNA in Toronto. Both winners were 25 years old when their articles were written.

In the 25,000 and under category, the winner is Corina Milic, a former reporter with The Sault Star in Sault Ste. Marie now freelancing in Toronto. Two of her entries were part of a series following youth in the struggling town of Wawa, just north of Sault Ste. Marie. Milic spent a month as an intern in Rwanda and used that lens to write about hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life inspiration for the Hollywood blockbuster, Hotel Rwanda. Her final entry pieced together the story of a young child’s drowning at a local pool, while examining city pool protocols.

In the 25,000 and over category, the winner is James Bradshaw of The Globe and Mail. He won the judge’s approval with three stories on the Tory government cuts to culture spending that started out with a routine announcement of minor cuts and ended with Bradshaw exposing a major list of cuts that quickly became a major election issue. When the government claimed arts funding was being increased, Bradshaw went to work, again digging through the numbers to reveal the downward trend in spending on the arts. His eye for feature writing was apparent in his fourth submission, profiling an art adviser and delving into the little-seen world of high profile art and the tension on the auction floor when millions of dollars are on the block.

The awards will be presented during the CNA/CCNA annual luncheon on Friday, May 22, 2009 at Le Centre Sheraton Hotel Montréal.

RECENT ARTICLES

Berwyn has mentioned I should post some of my articles here a few times now, and since he very well may be the only person who reads this, here you go, Berwyn:

Toronto Star -

At 25, I'm looking for a second career
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/578228

Important lessons - Socially responsible MBA graduates join the growing ranks of those giving back to the community
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/588853

Police recruits looking for job security
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/602159

Sault Star -

Hero of Hotel Rwanda still plagued by 'smear campaign'
http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1274800

Wawa youth feature, part one: Leaving the nest a fact of life in Wawa
http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1341050

Drowning victim 'was a fantastic little boy'
http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1127304

New Obsession

I have discovered a new obsession. A useless, all-consuming new obsession and it could very well be the end of me. Polyvore.com allows you to create and post your own collages of just about anything you like. Fashion "sets" are big, but the art and expression category could be the most fun.
Enjoy some of my favourite creations:

Happy Christmas!

The things you do bored at home on a Monday night...

Take a hike

More wintery photos as more snow falls.
I took a walk in Wishart Park, Saturday, just before the sun set. I don't care what anyone says, I love the snow!

Out my car window, driving in...

I might go back tomorrow and give my cross country skis their first test run of the season. It's free and I'm cheap so that's good, but it also looks like the park is a popular Skidooer hangout, so I could get run over...

Poor neglected blog

Here are some photos to tide you over. Forgive me for letting facebook take over my life.

THE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE TO HELL:
Apparently most border crossings take at least an hour to do, but I've gotten too used to zooming back and forth, so when I spent 50 minutes on the bridge between the twin Soos, I was less than impressed!

Lots of time for pictures though:

St. Mary's Paper greets you on the Canadian side (above and below).

ze line up.

FALLING INTO WINTER:
So one major advantage to living in northern Ontario is experiencing fall. Every day this September and October I woke up and drove to work amidst these brilliantly coloured hills. Fantastic!

Then, I spent last week in New York and Toronto, only to drive back home Sunday night in a snow storm. Monday morning when I got up for work the scene was SLIGHTLY different!
Still absolutely stunning...

Snow has all but melted a week later, but I think winter has arrived.

SEA KAYAKING SYMPOSIUM - THUNDER BAY

To celebrate a quarter century I bussed it to TBay to surprise Mila. Bryan and mom were also on hand.

That weekend Wilderness Supply Co. was hosting a Sea Kayaking Symposium, so mom and I learned to paddle and wet exit a boat - a completely unnatural-feeling requirement of kayaking.

The pictures are a leetle blown out, but we can pretend I meant to give them a psychedelic candy cane feel.

Leave the heavy lifting to the experts...

Seems like very few water shots for a water sport symposium huh. I was too busy flipping the boat over and learning how not to flip the boat over to take more photos.