Journalism News and Notes

Jay GrahamThe Master of Arts in Journalism (MAJ) program has been celebrating the recent accomplishments of its faculty and students. In May, MAJ instructor Meredith Levine and her 2011 Health and Medical Journalism class saw their groundbreaking project on dying published on CBC.ca.

Called “A Good Death”, the series explores in-depth the end-of-life process in Canada. Co-produced with CBC online, sixteen students published work on a variety of issues such as palliative care for children, social media and death, and the ups and downs caregivers experience working with dying patients.

Paul BenedettiAlso in May, lecturer and Program Coordinator Paul Benedetti was honoured with his first National Newspaper Award (NNA). Writing as a columnist for the Hamilton Spectator, Paul won in the best short feature category for his piece about how his daughter learned to play Debussy’s Clair de Lune as a Christmas present in memory of a grandmother she never knew. 

Alumni Raveena Aulakh, MAJ '07, Heather Scoffield, MAJ '93, Eric Reguly, MAJ '82, and Peggy Curran, MAJ '79 were also nominated for NNAs. Raveena was selected in the International Reporting category for her work with the Toronto Star. Heather was nominated under Politics for The Canadian Press, Peggy in the Explanatory Work category for The Gazette (Montreal) and Eric represented The Globe and Mail in the Business category.

Finally, recent graduate Lauren Pelley, MAJ '11 has been awarded the Reader’s Digest Editorial Internship for 2011. Lauren will spend time with the editorial team at the Best Health magazine, fact-checking stories, writing articles, proofreading, participating in story and art meetings and collaborating with industry professionals. The internship runs for eight weeks over the summer.

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The Alumni Newsletter is assembled by Becky Blue, Communications and Info Resource Officer for FIMS. We want to hear from you! For questions, comments or suggestions about what you’d like to see in this space, please email: fims-alumninewsletter@uwo.ca.