Webster lifetime award honours former Province deputy editor
Credit to Author: Harrison Mooney| Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2019 06:00:24 +0000
Two Postmedia reporters were celebrated Thursday for their careers at the 2019 Jack Webster Awards.
The awards championed the best in B.C. journalism across all platforms in 12 categories at a ceremony at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Vancouver.
Former Province newspaper deputy editor-in-chief Fabian Dawson was presented with the 2019 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award, which honours an exemplary B.C. journalism career. Dawson, who also served as editor of Vancouverdesi.com, then Canada’s largest South Asian news portal, boasts a memorable, international journalism career that has lasted four decades.
Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham was named the Commentator of the Year, one of two awards she was up for on the night. The award recognizes journalists in any medium who present informed, intelligent and impactful commentary.
Daphne Bramham in 2013.
Bramham was also nominated for Excellence in Feature/Enterprise print/text-based online category for her weeklong series, Lessons From Portugal, which examined the country’s radical approach to addiction treatment.
That Webby instead went to Kathy Tomlinson of The Globe and Mail, one of three awards the Globe scooped up at the ceremony. Brent Jang took home the Webster for Excellence in Business, Industry and Economics Reporting, while Frances Bula was honoured for Best Breaking News Reporting Print/Text-Based Online.
That award was won last year by Postmedia at a 2018 Websters where 14 Sun and Province journalists went home with hardware. Postmedia journalists were less successful this year, with Bramham’s win being the sole victory despite nominations in five categories.
The news team at Global B.C. swept the two TV categories for the second year in a row, winning the Best Breaking News Reporting category for their coverage of the 2018 wildfires and Excellence in Feature/Enterprise reporting for Casino Diaries.
Excellence in Feature/Enterprise Reporting – Radio went to Anne Penman and Joan Webber of CBC Vancouver for On Gladys Avenue.
The Webby for Best Community Reporting went to Dustin Godfrey of the Abbotsford News for Finding a way home.