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Photo: Rick Collins / The Narwhal

The Narwhal earns three Webster nominations for outstanding B.C. journalism

Our visually-rich series on Indigenous food sovereignty as well as collaborations with IndigiNews and The Globe and Mail received recognition
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The Narwhal’s visual storytelling and collaborative reporting have earned three nominations for the 2024 Webster Awards, which recognize the best of journalism in British Columbia.

Nourish, a series highlighting the work of First Nations bringing food sovereignty back to the table, is a finalist for excellence in innovative journalism. 

With IndigiNews, we co-published an on-the-ground feature about the rematriation of a stolen totem pole to the Nisg̱a’a Nation, which is up for an award for excellence in arts and culture reporting.

And The Narwhal’s collaborative investigation with The Globe and Mail into B.C.’s multimillion-dollar mining problem earned a Webster nomination for excellence in business reporting.

“From the get-go, our vision with The Narwhal was to bring environment reporting out of the margins and into the mainstream,” co-founder and editor-in-chief Emma Gilchrist said.

“Partnerships like this are the future of public-interest journalism, allowing organizations to share complementary skills, pool resources and reach wider, more diverse audiences.”

For the investigation, The Narwhal’s Francesca Fionda teamed up with The Globe’s Jeffrey Jones and Chen Wang to examine the growing cost of cleaning up pollution from mines in B.C. — a problem that could leave taxpayers on the hook if disaster strikes. B.C. bureau lead Lindsay Sample and photographer Chris Miller also helped make the story shine.

None of this award-nominated work would be a reality without the more than 6,500 members of The Narwhal who allow us to chart new paths for public-interest reporting, all while telling stories that would otherwise go untold.

The five-part Nourish series, with on-the-ground reporting by Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood and Ainslie Cruickshank, shone light on efforts to save salmon and restore other critical food resources everywhere from Babine River in northern B.C. to Secwepemc territory in Interior B.C. to Tsleil-Waututh territory in the Lower Mainland.

The series, made possible with support from the Real Estate Foundation of BC, also featured a live webinar exploring what sovereignty looks like in the face of climate change.

Nominees for Nourish also included illustrator Karlene Harvey and photojournalists Jesse Winter, Marty Clemens and Jennifer Gauthier. The Narwhal’s Michelle Cyca, Lindsay Sample, Karan Saxena, Matt Simmons and Shawn Parkinson were also among the nominees.

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The collaborative story with IndigiNews on the totem pole rematriation, with reporting by Simmons and Cara McKenna and photos by Clemens, also took home top honours for arts and entertainment reporting at this year’s National Newspaper Awards.

Other outlets nominated alongside The Narwhal in the three Webster categories include The Globe and Mail, Global BC, CBC Vancouver, Fraser Valley Current, The Tyee and The Climate Disaster Project.

Narwhal assistant editor Jacqueline Ronson was among the nominees for The Wren’s nomination in the Websters’ legal journalism category for a piece on the buried history of Tranquille.

Winners will be announced at a Webster Awards gala in Vancouver at the end of October.

Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?
Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?

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At a time when a lot of people are worried about what’s not working in Canadian media, we’ve never been more sure that Narwhal readers are the solution. Every new member we add across the country will help us dig into stories that hold those in power to account. Bonus: the next 74 readers to sign up at any monthly or yearly amount will get a Narwhal tote bag!
Are you part of the solution?
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