Emma Gilchrist is a reporter, editor, public speaker and spreadsheet-keeper. She started her journalism career more than 15 years ago and co-founded The Narwhal with Carol Linnitt in 2018.
Emma grew up in a small town in northwestern Alberta where she saw firsthand the important role resource development plays in Canadian communities. She went on to earn a journalism degree from Mount Royal University in Calgary and to work 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 and Canadian Newspaper Association Great Ideas Award.
In 2015, Mount Royal University honoured Emma with an alumni award for her work reimagining Canada’s media landscape. And in 2017 and 2022, Emma was recognized by Canada’s Clean50 for building a “powerhouse environmental investigative journalism outlet.” Also 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. And in 2023, she won a National Newspaper Award for a feature about terminating a pregnancy for medical reasons.
When she’s not tethered to her computer, Emma is happiest reading a book or surfing the waves of Vancouver Island (not simultaneously).
