Bob Verdun, Editor and Co-owner of the Elmira Independent, accepts the 1990 Michener Award from His Excellency, the Right Honourable Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada.
The weekly Ontario newspaper won the award for its coverage of a prolonged legal battle over contamination of the Elmira-St.Jacobs municipal water supply. The Independent was honoured during a ceremony held at Government House in Ottawa on April 25th, 1991.
The Michener Award for meritorious and disinterested public service in journalism is the only Canadian journalism award bearing the name of a governor general. It is unique in its emphasis on the degree of public benefit generated by an entry and by its weighing of the news-gathering resources available to the competitors.