Winners of the 2013-2014 William Southam Journalism Fellowships Massey College University of Toronto

! S N O I T A L U T A R G N O C
Kelly Crowe
Kierans Janigan Fellow
In the early 1980s, clutching a Carleton University journalism degree and the faint hope of a real job in journalism, Kelly headed for a tiny radio station in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and began a fascinating journey in broadcast news. She was hired by CBC in 1988, first as a regional reporter at CBLT-TV in Toronto and later as a national correspondent in Saskatchewan, then Alberta and eventually, Toronto. Kelly has reported on a dizzying range of stories as a television correspondent for CBC TVs The National, including earthquakes, fires, floods, economic crises, political dramas, environmental threats, and all manner of human triumph and tragedy. Her documentary work has taken her all over the world from rural Saskatchewan to rural Afghanistan. Since 2009, Kelly has been able to satisfy a lifelong interest in science, covering the health beat at CBC.

Amara Bangura

Gordon N. Fisher / JHR Fellow

Amara Bangura is a Sierra Leonean radio journalist working as BBC Media Actions Production Manager. After volunteering at community Radio Mankneh, which provided a critical voice in the aftermath of Sierra Leones civil war, he worked with BBC Media Action as a trainer to help rural journalists report on the 2007 General Elections an essential event in helping Sierra Leones peace-building efforts. In 2008, he joined Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) producing stories on human rights. Amara won an award for his story on neglected mental health cases. In 2009, BBC Media Action hired him to produce Hague Link, a program that covered the trial of the convicted former Liberian president Charles Taylor at the International Criminal Court from where he reported for both national and international broadcast. In 2010, Amara returned to Sierra Leone to work with BBC Media Action on two national governance-focused programs supervising all productions.

Vronique Morin

Webster McConnell Fellow

Vronique Morin is an award winning science journalist who has worked across Canada, including the Arctic and in remote indigenous communities. With over 20 years experience in broadcast and print magazines, she is currently working as a freelance journalist for a science magazine program on Tl-Qubec, writing as well as developing a documentary project. Her documentary (original idea and research) Time Bombs, about Canadian veterans who have participated in atomic bomb tests, received a Gold Ribbon award from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, and Best Documentary award from the New York International Independent Film and Video festival. She was also nominated for Best Research at the Gemeaux awards. Vronique was president of the Canadian Science Writers Association (CSWA) from 2001-2005. She was the first president of the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) from 2002-2004. She also serves as a judge on numerous awards committees recognizing excellence in journalism.

Jos Peralta

Scotiabank / CJFE Fellow

Jos Peralta is from Montevideo, Uruguay. During Uruguays economic crisis in 2002, he moved to Spain to continue his studies. Back in Uruguay in 2006, he was hired by Bsqueda, a widely read weekly magazine described as having a liberal editorial policy. Jos finished his undergraduate degree in 2010 at University of the Republic in Montevideo. Since starting at Bsqueda, he has been awarded the opportunity to attend a series of programs such as The Reach of Organized Crime, The Exercise of Journalism on Violent Contexts in 2010 at University of Mexico (UNAM), along with a course in investigative journalism sponsored by the US State Department. Joss work is concentrated in the areas of energy development, education and public enterprise. He covered the Ministry of Labour for several years. He hopes to live off his journalistic writing for the rest of his life.

Jody Porter

CBC / Radio-Canada Fellow

Jody Porter worked in community papers in small towns across the country for a decade before starting as a reporter at CBC Radio in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Documentary storytelling helps her escape the daily news grind and has garnered several awards. She is the editor of Strength and Struggle: Perspectives from First Nations, Inuit and Mtis Peoples in Canada, published in 2011 by McGraw-Hill Ryerson and currently being used in high schools across the country. Jody is fond of creating radio/social experiments that take ordinary people out of their cultural comfort zones. This includes CBC Thunder Bays Common Ground Caf series that brought strangers together to make a meal and discuss race relations in the city. She was given the 2011 Adrienne Clarkson Award, RTDNA for her work on this series. She is also a regular guest lecturer at the Department of Aboriginal Education at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay.

David Rider

St. Clair Balfour Fellow

David Rider is city hall bureau chief for the Toronto Star, leading the papers coverage of the Mayor Rob Ford administration. David graduated with honours from the Ryerson School of Journalism and cut his teeth covering city hall for Manitobas Brandon Sun. Since then, he has been a full-time reporter or editor at the Winnipeg Sun, Ottawa Sun, Toronto Sun, CBC and Reuters. Career highlights include municipal, provincial and federal politics; reportage from Haiti, the Arctic and Europe; and 19 months chronicling the Somalia scandal that rocked the Canadian military in the 1990s. Awards include best column and investigative reporting excellence in the Sun chain. Davids last break from full-time journalism saw him teach English and foreign affairs at a high school in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. He freelanced from Asia for publications including the National Post, Hong Kongs South China Morning Post, The Globe and Mail and the Star.

In association with Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Journalists for Human Rights and the Canadian Journalism Foundation, Massey College and the University of Toronto are grateful for the generosity of CBC/Radio-Canada, the Alva Foundation, the estate of the late St. Clair Balfour, Lisa Balfour Bowen and Walter Bowen, Clair Balfour and Marci McDonald, Wilson J.H. Southam, the R. Howard Webster Foundation, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, Thomas Kierans and Mary Janigan in memory of Val Ross, Scotiabank, the Donner Canadian Foundation and for the generosity of past Journalism Fellows.