The Goodwin's Award for Excellence in Alternative Journalism

The Goodwin's Award is the only Canadian award recognizing excellence in alternative journalism. Judges seek out articles that have had a strong political or social impact and have been influential in promoting social change. They look particularly for items which appeared in alternative publications after they were overlooked or under-reported in the mainstream media.

The fourth annual Goodwin's Award for excellence in alternative journalism went posthumously to Chuck Grochmal, for his "brutally frank and fascinating" column on coping with AIDS in Xtra, a gay newspaper in Toronto. Out of the 60 submissions for the award, judges agreed that Grochmal most deserved the $300 prize.

Grochmal died on February 4, 1990 of AIDS-related causes. The award money went to the AIDS Committee of Toronto.

Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks were first runners-up for "O.K. Michael Wilson, Here's the Alternative" in Toronto's This Magazine. McQuaig was also honoured in both the Centre for Investigative Journalism and National Newspaper Awards this year.

Second runner-up was Kathryn Morse for "Net Results-Sorting Through the Fisheries Tangle" in Halifax's New Maritimes. Joyce Nelson was third runner-up for a piece on multinational exploitation of the Third World in Ottawa's Canadian Forum, and for her analysis of the public relations industry in Toronto's Fuse. Paul McKay writing in This Magazine was fourth runner-up for "Snow Job - Doing the Uranium Hustle in the NWT."

Honourable mentions went to Linda Clow and Tom Wayman of Toronto's Borderlines; Barbara Carss of Toronto's Kick It Over; Adrian Paavo, John Warnock and Cheryl Stadnichuk of Regina's Briarpatch; the Volvo Research group writing in Halifax's New Maritimes; and Larry Kuehn for an article in Vancouver's New Directions.

The McDonald citation, named for content founder Dick McDonald and awarded for most improvement or extraordinary coverage of an issue or event, went to Briarpatch for its coverage of the Grant Devine government's drive to privatize Saskatchewan, and to New Maritimes for overall improvement. Honourably mentioned was Alternatives, put out by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo, for its issue on environmental humour.

This year's judges were former Ottawa Citizen reporter Katie FitzRandolph, former Globe and Mail labour reporter Lorne Slotnick, Goddwin's Foundation president Ron Verzuh, and SOURCES publisher Barrie Zwicker.


This article originally appeared in Sources, 26th Edition, 1990.


See also:
Arts, Media, Culture articles from Connexions Digest and Library
The Goodwin's Award for Excellence in Alternative Journalism - 3rd year - Winners of the 3rd annual Goodwin's Awards for alternative journalism. (CX5217).

 

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