Your excellencies, honoured guests, Michener finalists, mesdames et
messieurs. On behalf of the directors of the Michener Awards
Foundation, may l express our thanks to His Excellency for hosting
this 20th presentation ceremony here in Rideau Hall. Il nous fait
très grand plaisir, et fait honneur de même à la profession entière.
We are very grateful, sir.
Over the 20 years, the recipients of the award have included a
variety of organizations; some big, some small; some print, some
broadcast; dailies, weeklies, a news service, a community paper; TV
networks, a radio station; a TV station; operating in English and in
French.
What makes it possible to compare the work of such diverse media is
the Michener awards' focus on public service - meritorious and
disinterested public service through journalism. This focus and the
high level of dedication that it demands have helped make the
Michener award one of the most coveted awards in journalism. Winning
it is evidence of careful and caring work in the public interest.
This concern for promoting public service journalism has also led to
the introduction of four-month Michener study fellowships for mature
journalists. The Foundation inaugurated this program in 1987 and has
awarded five $20,000 fellowships since then, two involving French
language journalists and three English. Their projects, designed to
help increase their competence in journalism and their pursuit of
public service, have studied such issues as a comparison of
journalistic ethics in Canada and other industrial countries;
developments in biotechnology and biochemistry; the development of
weekly magazine supplements for newspapers; third-world issues,
particularly those involving refugees and immigration; and abortion
policy in Canada and some other countries.
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Roland Michener |
I'm pleased that some of the generous donors who have supported the
Michener Foundation and made this award and fellowship program
possible are among the guests here this evening including the man
who has been such an inspiration in the development of this program,
the man in whose name the awards were established in 1970 - the
Founding Patron, the Right Honourable Roland Michener, 90 years
young exactly two months ago today.
Thank you.
Paul Deacon
President, Michener Awards Foundation
June 19, 1990