The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) is proud to announce its winner for the annual CJF Award for Climate Solutions Reporting that celebrates a journalist or team of journalists whose work shines a spotlight on climate change and innovative solutions. The award is open to work in Canadian print, broadcast or online media.

CJF Award for Climate Solutions Reporting: The $10,000 award, sponsored by Intact Financial Corporation celebrates a journalist or journalistic team whose work shines a spotlight on climate change and innovative solutions. This honour went to Tobie Lebel of CBC/Radio-Canada’s Découverte team, consisting of director Sylvie Mallard, and project team members Nicholas Chentrier, François Genest and François Dubuc, for, Hydrogène : révolution ou mirage?, exploring the role that hydrogen might play in the energy transition.

Says jury member Jean Marc Fleury  of the winning feature: “A breath of fresh air. Scientific journalism that is in tune with its audience, unconventional in its approach, which opens a door on what scientists really think. A complete and balanced overview of an eminently complex issue delivered at an irresistible pace and with humor.  More of this, please! Congratulations to the Radio-Canada Discovery team for Hydrogen: revolution or mirage?”

The CJF thanks the generosity of founding award sponsor Intact Financial Corporation for providing the award’s $10,000 prize.

“Helping build resilient communities in the face of climate change is part of Intact’s strategic objectives and roadmap – it is as important as our financial performance. We want to help the communities where we operate thrive and build their ability to face the unexpected,” says Diane Flanagan, Deputy Senior Vice-President of Corporate Affairs and Communications at Intact Financial.

“To inform our approach, we look at the defining trends that are shaping society such as inflation, socio-economic and geopolitical challenges, and the increasing impacts of extreme weather. We thank all journalists for the integral role they play in highlighting these trends and the important work being done to help build resilient communities.”

Commenting on all the entries, jury chair Bob Ezrin says:

“The quality, quantity and variety of submissions we received clearly shows the growing importance of climate solutions reporting across Canada and around the world. This is some of the most important reporting being done, on any beat, anywhere, and the journalists doing this hard, necessary work deserve to be recognized and celebrated.”

The CJF Award for Climate Solutions Reporting

ABOUT THE AWARD

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. The impacts of global warming and extreme weather events are already being felt in Canada and are forecast by scientists to become more severe and more frequent. Beyond environmental and physical impacts, climate change is also expected to have significant economic and social impacts.

Climate change demands to be a constant and significant part of Canadian conversation and the media has a vital role to play in providing accurate, contextual information that creates the foundation for civic discourse about its scope and potential solutions being considered or implemented. The CJF Award for Climate Solutions Reporting recognizes excellence in reporting on what is being done in Canada and beyond to address the impact and threat of climate change – the policies, practices and people that could potentially be part of the solution to this global crisis.

The CJF Award for Climate Solutions Reporting celebrates innovative work done by Canadian journalists to shine a light on adaptive solutions being tested and implemented to address the environmental challenges affecting the world today and in the future. The award will aim to inspire broader, more prescriptive coverage of the climate crisis we all face by raising awareness about the challenges themselves and the work being done to meet them.

Judges will consider the following criteria in adjudicating this award:

•  How does this work highlight responses and solutions to climate change? Does it shift the narrative from the problem to solutions that empower positive change?
  •    What evidence is there to show that the solution is working? In what ways is it not or might it not? What metrics are used and why in assessing this solution?
•  What data supports the problem and the solution?
•  Is the overall climate data cited accurately and is there sufficient evidence of verification? Is there a sufficient scope and diversity of sources cited?
•  Judges will note that false balance can be the enemy of accuracy and truth in reporting on climate change. Trying to balance scientific consensus on climate change with views from climate deniers or others who disagree with scientific findings risks misleading news audiences.

FORM OF THE AWARD

The award recipient will receive a $10,000 prize.

ELIGIBILITY

Climate change is a story that matters in many spheres – an all-encompassing issue with a wide scope that can include not just the environment but also science, health, the economy, business, public policy, migration, politics and people on a local, national and global scale.

This award will be presented to a working journalist or team of journalists (employed full-time or freelance) who have been judged to have done the most to shine a spotlight on climate change and innovative solutions in Canadian print, broadcast or online news reporting in 2023.

Entries involving more than one contributor are welcome and will be judged as a single submission. Submissions are welcome in the following formats: article, column, online piece, editorial, op-ed, radio program, podcast, television program or documentary film.

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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH 

About Intact Financial Corporation

Intact Financial Corporation is the largest provider of Property & Casualty insurance in Canada, a leading specialty lines insurer with international expertise, and a leader in commercial lines in the U.K. and Ireland. The Company has approximately 30,000 employees delivering best-in-class service through over 350 offices across Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland.

Intact exists to help people, businesses and society prosper in good times and be resilient in bad times. Our social impact and climate priorities sit alongside our financial goals and are embedded in the Company’s strategic roadmap. Intact has established and is delivering on ambitious objectives to be a leader in building resilient communities, achieving Net Zero by 2050 and halving our operations emissions by 2030.

PAST WINNERS

-2023:  The Narwhal’s team of climate journalists, which includes Emma Gilchrist, Jimmy Thomson, Carol Linnitt, Shawn Parkinson, Arik Ligeti, Ashley Tam, Stephanie Kwetásel’wet Wood, Lindsay Sample, Taylor Roades and Jesse Winter for their narrative-shifting stories on Indigenous-led conservation efforts to show how Indigenous nations are declaring protected areas based on their own sovereignty.

-2022: The Globe and Mail‘s team of climate journalists, which includes Ryan MacDonald, Kathryn Blaze Baum, Jeffrey Jones and Adam Radwanski, for their narrative-shifting stories on how to re-engineer the economy to adapt to and capitalize on climate change.

– 2021: The team of journalists behind the CBC Radio series What on Earth was the inaugural recipient of the new CJF Award for Climate Solutions Reporting. The winning CBC team members were: Laura Lynch – host; Joan Melanson – executive producer; Manusha Janakiram – senior producer; Lisa Johnson – producer; Molly Segal – producer; Rachel Sanders – associate producer; and Mathias Wolfsohn – engineer. View the acceptance speech by Laura Lynch, host of What on Earth.

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For inquiries:
Natalie Turvey

President and Executive Director

The Canadian Journalism Foundation
E-mail: nturvey@cjf-fjc.ca