Emma Gilchrist co-founded The Narwhal with Carol Linnitt in 2018, and served as executive director and editor-in-chief until 2024. Emma grew up in a small town in northwestern Alberta where she saw firsthand the important role resource development plays in Canadian communities. She graduated from Mount Royal University in Calgary with a journalism degree in 2006 and worked as a reporter and editor in Canada and the U.K., including stints at the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald. While at the Calgary Herald, Emma created a weekly environmental column and website called The Green Guide, which won an Alberta Emerald Award.
In 2015, Mount Royal University honoured Emma with an alumni award for her work reimagining Canada’s media landscape. Emma has been named to Canada’s Clean50 twice for building a “powerhouse environmental investigative journalism outlet.” In 2022, Emma won gold at the National Magazine Awards for a personal essay about her decades-long quest to track down her biological parents. In 2023, she won a National Newspaper Award for feature writing. And in 2025, the Digital Publishing Awards bestowed Emma with their highest honour, the Digital Publishing Leadership Award. When Emma is not tethered to her computer, she is happiest reading a book, surfing or hanging on the shores of Cowichan Lake with her daughter.
7 min. read
