By Russella Lucien
CABJ
The awards night organized by Sundra Owusu-Sefa of the Student Committee had members of the media community with Nneka Eliott of CP24 as host of the event.
The rigorous criteria for the scholarships includes a 3.0 GPA, a 500-word essay on why the student deserved the award, one professional and one academic reference and samples of work. Sundra described the relevance of the scholarship, “It’s very important for the CABJ community to have various programs including scholarships to support students and this ensures their participation in the industry.”
The night began with the a silent auction featuring items from sponsors such as Roots Canada, Toronto Raptors and The National Post with the proceeds going towards future scholarship funds. Two career-building prizes included spending a day with either Andria Case from CTV News or Jules Edler at OMNI TV. Jeremy McDonald, organizer/hypeman of the auction kept the crowd motivated to bid and people hovered over items they hoped to win.
The funds for the scholarships came from the CABJ, Rive Gauche Media, Centennial College and a generous and anonymous donor.
The recipients include Monique Johnson, a Masters of Arts Student at Western University who was awarded the $500 broadcast scholarship. Monique recently volunteered at Rogers TV York Region. Michelle Lynch, vice-president of broadcast for the CABJ said, “Monique has a passion for journalism and has been pursuing it relentlessly for the last three years. She just cares so deeply and it’s refreshing to see that.”
The second $500 broadcast scholarship went to Irene Quarcoo, a fourth-year Ryerson University broadcast student. Irene’s experience includes internships at media houses in Uganda and volunteering at CKLN FM in Toronto. Irene is currently interning at the CBC in London England and was unable to accept her award in person. Her brother Clarence accepted the award in her honour.
The $1000 Centennial College scholarship went to Thandiwe Vela, a fourth year student at the University of Toronto and Centennial College. Thandiwe works part-time at the Toronto Star in the radio room.
The $1000 CABJ scholarship went to Stephanie Smith, a Masters of Arts student at Carleton University in Ottawa. Stephanie’s media experience includes contributing to Share and Canada Extra, CHRY and CHIN Radio. Stephanie’s interest includes developing media and grassroots reporting with a potential exchange trip to Rwanda next year. Stephanie says, “My goal is to bring our concerns to a national platform. I believe in community and feel we should pour into community and in turn the community pours back into us as individuals. It’s great that when I need help, the community can give back me.”
Cassandra Padmore was the youngest of the award winners at 17 years old. She received the $1000 scholarship and VIVA internship presented by Olivier Felicio of Rive Gauche Media. Cassandra is a first year student at Ryerson University studying journalism and has interned at Suede magazine. Cassandra says, “As we all know, there isn’t equal representation in the media and it’s important for us to get involved and have our positive stories as well. Hopefully through my involvement in the area of journalism, I will be able to administer that to the people that need to hear that. ”
The night wrapped up with announcing the auction winners and raising over $800 for future scholarships. The CABJ Student Awards night highlights the importance of providing financial and professional support to young journalists to gain a foothold in the media landscape.
