Five reporters finalists for B.C. awards
Nominee Bolan also to be feted with lifetime achievement prize
Five Vancouver Sun/Province reporters have been named finalists for the prestigious 2017 Jack Webster Awards.
Crime reporter Kim Bolan is nominated in the breaking news category for a series of stories she wrote on the murder of prominent Hells Angel Bob Green. Bolan revealed Green’s business connections, his standing in the biker gang and was also able to link the Green murder to the shooting of a Hells Angels prospect in Burnaby and the slaying of a young man, whose dismembered body was dumped on the side of the road.
Bolan is also the recipient of this year’s Bruce Hutchinson Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented at the Webster Awards dinner on Oct. 12.
Gordon Hoekstra has been nominated in the feature/enterprising reporting category for his investigative series that uncovered the seismic risk found in privately owned buildings in Vancouver and the reluctance of anyone to take action. Soon after his stories ran, the City of Vancouver announced it would hire a dedicated manager to develop a seismic plan and the B.C. government said it would examine incentive programs to update buildings at risk.
Lori Culbert is up for an award in the digital journalism category for her comprehensive database created for the national O Cannabis series. Culbert analyzed a decade of Statistics Canada data on marijuana crime and zeroed in on four key pot crimes: Possession, production, trafficking, and import/export.
The data she sorted and analyzed formed the basis of the series’ main Day 1 story, as well as three other stories she wrote in the series.
Reporters Dan Fumano and Matt Robinson are up for an award in the excellence in legal journalism category for their stories, including a seven-part series on the B.C. Court of Appeal case of Phillip Tallio, who has spent 34 years in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit.
The Vancouver Sun, together with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, mounted a successful legal challenge to argue for the public’s access to follow the proceedings, which led to the release of thousands of pages of case material.
Fumano has also been nominated in the science, technology, health and environment category for Troubled Waters, a series that explored how Canadian scientists and engineers are saving communities here and in India from unhealthy, often deadly, drinking water sources.
“I’m pleased that the Webster judges have honoured our reporters with so many prestigious nominations,” said Harold Munro, editor-in-chief of The Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers.
“It’s a reflection of the tremendous local journalism being done every day at The Vancouver Sun and Province.”
The Jack Webster Awards honour the best in B.C. journalism. The 31st awards gala will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver.