Your Excellencies, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen. It was
nearly 10 years ago that the Governor-General of the day, the Right
Honourable Roland Michener, and the Federation of Press Clubs of
Canada, now Press Club Canada, began collaborating on the
establishment of a Canadian journalism award. From that
collaboration emerged the Roland Michener Award for Meritorious
Public Service in Journalism. As its name implies, it was designed
to acknowledge outstanding public service performed by Canadian news
organizations, either print or broadcast.
As chairman of the Press Club Canada Michener Award Committee, l am
pleased to be here today for the presentation of the eighth annual
Award, which covers journalistic endeavours during the calendar year 1977.
It's my opinion that during these last eight years the Michener
Award has become recognized as the crowning achievement of Canadian
journalism. It was particularly heartening to see in this year's
report of the Michener Award judges the following paragraph:
"The judges found the general level of excellence in 1977 much
higher than in past years, reflecting the success of the award in
fostering and developing meritorious public service in
journalism. "
A major factor in that success is without question due to the
unflagging interest in and support of the Award displayed by Your
Excellencies, and on behalf of Press Club Canada l would like to
take this opportunity to thank Your Excellencies for it.
William MacPherson:
Michener Award Presentation
Friday, Oct. 6, 1978
Government House, Ottawa
Websites:
www.michenerawards.ca
www.prixmichener.ca