RNAO honours journalists with its annual Media Awards
Journalists who shed light on the nursing shortage, opioid crisis and racism on the front lines are among those being honoured by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) for its annual Media Awards.
Among the winning entries, three of the stories shared the challenges nurses are facing during this pandemic including understaffing, unbearable workload and mental health challenges. Other winning entries examined the shortcomings of Ontario’s long-term care system, the rising number of opioid overdoses across the country during the pandemic and stories from Black nurses who have endured racism during their career.
"Journalists play an important role in informing the public about the successes in our health system and the failures that we must address,” says RNAO President Morgan Hoffarth. “We applaud them for bringing us compelling stories to ensure nurses, other health providers and the public have a voice.”
This year, RNAO is handing out seven Media Awards to journalists who wrote for or produced stories for the Toronto Star, Global News, CBC Radio, toronto.com and The Voice of Pelham.
"As an organization that speaks out for nurses and healthy public policy, RNAO is proud to honour this year’s winners. Their impressive work highlights the nursing and health issues that face our province, including a nursing crisis worsened by the pandemic, ongoing understaffing and inadequate skill mix in long-term care and the racial harassment and mistreatment of Black nurses," says RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun.
"RNAO values the work of all journalists and we thank them for covering these important and diverse issues,” Hoffarth adds. “Congratulations to this year’s incredible winners."
Entries were judged by a panel of nurses and journalists. Awards will be handed out at RNAO's virtual 97th Annual General Meeting on June 10.
Here is the full list of winners:
Helen Tran
The Voice of Pelham
Community newspaper – Best News coverage
Robert Cribb, Declan Keogh and Mashal Butt
Investigative Journalism Bureau and Toronto Star
Daily newspaper – Best in-depth feature or series
Steve McKinley
Toronto Star
Daily newspaper – Best news coverage
Joanna Lavoie
toronto.com
Online – Best story
Carolyn Jarvis, Andrew Russell, Emanuela Campanella and Jigar Patel
Global News
Online – Best in-depth feature or series
Imani Walker
CBC Radio
Radio – Best in-depth feature or series
Caryn Lieberman
Global News Toronto
Television – Best news coverage
The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students in Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses’ contribution to shaping the health system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public we serve. For more information about RNAO, visit RNAO.ca or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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