{"id":17142,"date":"2021-10-18T09:03:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T13:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/?p=17142"},"modified":"2021-10-18T09:03:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T13:03:17","slug":"bj-student-rachel-watts-wins-2021-fraser-macdougall-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2021\/bj-student-rachel-watts-wins-2021-fraser-macdougall-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"BJ student Rachel Watts wins 2021 Fraser MacDougall Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Fourth-year journalism student Rachel Watts has won the 2021 Fraser MacDougall Prize for Best New Canadian Voice in Human Rights Reporting.<\/p><\/div>\n

Fourth-year journalism student Rachel Watts has won the 2021 Fraser MacDougall Prize for Best New Canadian Voice in Human Rights Reporting for her Capital Current story on how the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the plight of asylum seekers in Canada.<\/p>\n

The prestigious award is given annually by Journalists for Human Rights and Canada\u2019s National NewsMedia Council.<\/p>\n

Watts\u2019 in-depth story, headlined \u201cPandemic intensifies silent sorrow of Canada\u2019s asylum seekers,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0was published in Capital Current, the J-School\u2019s flagship publication for student work, in December 2020.<\/p>\n

In a statement announcing the news, the NNC stated that \u201cthis year\u2019s judges agreed Watts\u2019 story was thorough and eloquently written. The story\u2019s compelling focus on chronicling the challenges asylum seekers face, even after overcoming horrific challenges in their home countries, was both potent and persuasive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three other Carleton journalism students had also been nominated for the prize.<\/p>\n

Christianna Alexiou and Cameron Chaddad were shortlisted for their multimedia story headlined\u00a0\u201cCentre tries to fill gap in Indigenous language program in Ottawa,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0published in Capital Current in February.<\/p>\n

Alexiou was also nominated for a story co-authored with fellow journalism student Rebecca Weston and published by Carleton\u2019s campus news outlet,\u00a0The Charlatan<\/em>:\u00a0\u201cThe price of swapping fast fashion for sustainability.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The fourth nominated\u00a0story<\/a>, \u201cLip service: BIPOC students at Rye feel unsupported by the complaint process,\u201d was written by Abeer Khan and illustrated by Laila Amer and appeared in The Eyeopener<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Fraser MacDougall Prize was first presented in 2017 as a way of supporting young journalists to report on challenging, high-impact human rights issues.<\/p>\n

Watts\u2019 story \u201ccaptures so many meaningful nuances which, against the backdrop of the pandemic, have become all the more concerning,\u201d said John Fraser, executive chair of the National NewsMedia Council. \u201cThe story helps to amplify the perspectives, and life experiences, of those whom we do not always hear from in the media but that are important voices that shape our collective worldview.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watts offered a heartfelt \u201cthank you\u201d to her \u201cwonderful\u201d professor, J-School instructor Kelly Patterson, for her guidance in bringing story from idea to publication, according to the JHR\/NNC announcement about this year\u2019s prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough my reporting, I began to realize how newcomers and refugees are often depicted as being mostly \u2018grateful\u2019 and \u2018relieved\u2019 upon their immigration to Canada,\u201d said Watts. \u201cSettlement, or creating \u2018a new life\u2019, is viewed as \u2018the easy part.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, that\u2019s often not the case. Too many vulnerable groups of migrants continue to experience various challenges such as culture shock, severe isolation, language barriers, discrimination and dead-end jobs. It\u2019s particularly relevant to consider these barriers in the COVID-19 pandemic context\u2013 one which began to isolate newcomer families and individuals on a whole new level.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s competition attracted a record number of submissions, said the sponsoring organizations. The short list of four finalists was announced last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite an extremely trying and challenging past 18 months, the quality of this year\u2019s submissions has shown us that student journalism continues to successfully push boundaries and has never been stronger,\u201d said Fraser.<\/p>\n

In addition to the $1,000 prize, Watts will be celebrated at JHR\u2019s upcoming Night for Rights gala, which will be held on Oct. 20.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Christianna Alexiou, Cameron Chaddad, Rebecca Weston, Rachel Watts (left to right)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThese nominations speak volumes about how dedicated many Carleton journalism students are to the core social justice mission of journalism,\u201d Allan Thompson, the head of Carleton\u2019s journalism program, stated when the finalists were announced in late September. \u201cThe nominations also speak well of the editorial decisions being made by the journalism school\u2019s flagship publication Capital Current and Carleton\u2019s campus newspaper, The Charlatan<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2019 winner of the prize was Carleton journalism student Olivia Robinson for an in-depth story published in Capital Current, headlined: \u201cRaising a Stink about Public Washrooms in Ottawa: Why you should care about toilet privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

The award is made possible by a generous endowment of the late Fraser MacDougall, who had a distinguished career in journalism, chiefly with The Canadian Press. Later in life, he was the first executive secretary of the former Ontario Press Council, which was a forerunner to the NNC.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fourth-year journalism student Rachel Watts has won the 2021 Fraser MacDougall Prize for Best New Canadian Voice in Human Rights Reporting for her Capital Current story on how the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the plight of asylum seekers in Canada. The prestigious award is given annually by Journalists for Human Rights and Canada\u2019s National NewsMedia Council. 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