The 2013 Canadian Hillman Award

This is the 3rd year that the Hillman Foundation has been honouring Canadian journalists and I have to say that this year was the best so far. I feel honoured to be included and I have Andrea to thank for that. It continues to help me raise my personal standards and expectations.

Started in 1950, The Hillman Foundation has recognized some of the brightest talent in the U.S. for their insightful journalism. The Hillman Award and "The Sidney" are highly respected honours.  Up here in (currently cold) Canada, there have been three winners sine it was introduced in 2011.

The first winner was Steve Buist of the Hamilton Spectator for his Code Red expose. In 2012 the CBC's fifth estate team of Diana Swain, Timothy Sawa, and Angela Gilbert took it for their "Scouts Honour" work. And it was great to see previous winners at this years event. I think the turnout was bigger than before and the mix of people was amazing.

I imagine winning the 3rd Canadian Hillman was harder than it was in the previous 2 editions. The number of submissions was significantly higher, the quality of all of them was on par. Honourable mentions were stories that needed to be revealed and are very telling about the importance of journalism at these levels.

If you have any doubt, check them out.
Katie DeRosa, Special Report: An investigation of Canada's refugee policy, Times-Colonist
Elise Stolte, Why aren't First Nation's kids in school? Edmonton Journal

And the winner is:
It's a story that's been brewing for a couple of years and really needed some in depth knowledge and experience to reveal. All of the layers have yet to be peeled back although it seems it's close to the breaking point. The idea and core principles of democracy as we know it were shaken by these events. And yet... who knows what the final outcome will be. The story goes on.

Congratulations to Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher, Investigation of robocalls and voters suppression in the 2011 federal election