Carleton University’s Susan Harada, co-chair of the Travers Fellowship Steering Committee and professor in the School of Journalism and Communication, announced today that Sadiya Ansari and Alex Boyd will split this year’s $25,000 R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship. The fellowship is administered by Carleton and supports a significant foreign reporting project by Canadian journalists or journalism students.
“During times like these, it’s crucial for Canadians to remain connected with what’s happening around the world,” said Harada.
“It means journalism is more important than ever. That’s why we have chosen two Fellowship winners this year. Each will pursue a reporting project examining international issues related to the pandemic—issues that also have serious implications here at home.”
Ansari is a freelance journalist based in Berlin whose work has appeared in publications including, the Guardian, Maclean’s, VICE, Refinery29, Policy Options, Chatelaine, Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. Her assignment is to produce a solutions-based feature imagining childcare as a right for The Walrus, along with a post-publication roundtable on the childcare crisis in Canada.
“International reporting that is heavily research-based is increasingly difficult to fund, and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to pursue a story with implications for an urgent policy debate in Canada,” said Ansari. “The support I’m receiving through the Travers Fellowship is also particularly meaningful for me as a freelancer, because there are so few opportunities that allow me to take on major projects like this one.”
Boyd is a reporter with the Toronto Star based in Calgary, and will produce a series with photographic/digital elements on how the unequal distribution of vaccines is set to drive a wedge between the global have countries and the global have-nots. She will explore Canada’s place in a world shaken by an inequitable distribution of the most in-demand vaccine in history.
“When the pandemic started it felt like the world got smaller in some ways,” said Boyd.
“In the middle of a barrage of information about a new virus it felt hard to really grasp how the pandemic was affecting the rest of the world, and now, why vaccine roll-out has been so uneven. I’m grateful for opportunities like the Travers Fellowship that allow for reporting that reminds Canadians that this story is global, and our attention should be too.”
Read more in Carleton Newsroom…
Monday, April 12, 2021 in News, School of Journalism and Communication
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