Young journalists honoured by Star
North Toronto’s Graffiti grabs first place in eight different categories
Fed up with tokenism behind Indigenous treaty announcements over his school’s PA system every morning, Wiidaaseh Chijiinweh-Shawana decided to write a pithy opinion piece about it for his school paper.
“Many students aren’t even remotely aware of what a Land Treaty is, nor have they been taught what it is. I wonder whose fault that is,” he wrote in a piece for the Rosedale Spectacle called “Acknowledge your acknowledgments aren’t working.”
Chijiinweh-Shawana, an 18year-old student at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, told the Star that despite good intentions, broader lessons surrounding Indigenous issues seem to stop at the door.
“I was more or less annoyed that there were things being said over the announcements, but not being taught extensively in the classrooms, which is where, I believe, it should all be taught,” he said, noting that current affairs concerning Indigenous issues should be given more weight.
Chijiinweh-Shawana was a runner-up for the opinionwriting category for the 22nd annual Toronto Star high school journalism awards. The event, which took place on Tuesday at the Toronto Reference Library, celebrates the work of young journalists and whets their interest in the industry by bringing in reputable reporters to discuss the realities of the job.
The Star’s Wendy Gillis and Amy Dempsey were in attendance.
This year, 615 submissions were entered from 16 Toronto high schools, covering a wealth of different forms of the trade, like illustration and feature photography, but also other newspaper aspects, including page design.
North Toronto Collegiate Institute took home the most accolades with eight first-place wins, including the Best Newspaper award, with a staff count of over 15.
Graffiti, as the paper is called, was selected for its diverse crop of storytelling.
Chantelle Nejnec, 18, one of two editors-in-chief, said the Graffiti selects stories that cater to the student body — including the international ones. When U.S. President Donald Trump was pushing his travel ban on people from predominately Muslim countries, for example, Graffiti searched out students it would impact directly.
“Each article has to relay back to a student,” Nejnec said.
“Instead of summarizing a CBC article, we’ll put a new spin on it. It’ll bring a new perspective to it that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to read (elsewhere).”