MacEwan Journalism students celebrate ‘Risky Restaurants’ national journalism award
Rebekah Brunham and Steve Lillebuen pose with a CAJ award for Risky Restaurants
Students celebrate award win in student newsroom
Students, professors and Edmonton Journal colleagues gathered to celebrate on campus in the Edmonton Edge newsroom to celebrate a national award for their collaborative investigation into restaurant safety.
Students celebrated the recognition of their investigation which looked into the provincial government’s “lax” inspection regimes of Edmonton restaurants.
The series included seven stories a podcast, a column, and eventually an announcement by the provincial government that they would crack down on food safety.
Many in the room described as both “foundational” and “the future” of local investigative reporting.
Department chair Iain Macpherson opened the celebration by emphasizing what the win means for the program and its students.
“This, you know, kind of a big deal, right? Actually, a very big deal,” Mcpherson said. “It’s not the first time that our journalism students have made us proud and made a mark in the world while they’re with us… but I think it’s safe to say that this is sort of a crowning achievement and like a culmination of what we’ve been doing with the journalism program these low these many years.”
A collaboration means we all shared an equal part of this
“We beat out some very very impressive work of professional journalists who’ve been doing this for 20 years,” Steve Lillebuen, an associate professor at in MacEwan’s communication program told the room.
Lillebuen accepted the CAJ team award earlier this year in Ottawa, where the project was honoured alongside work by some of Canada’s most experienced journalists.
What local news can contribute
For recent graduates, the celebration was as much about impact as it was about recognition.
David Slater, a member of the Edmonton Journal team investigation, said the award matters less than what the reporting accomplished.
“It’s less about the award itself, and it’s more about like what our work has been able to contribute to a public conversation,” Slater said. “Isn’t that what we want to be as journalists, and what we want our work to achieve some sort of change or contribution to the future?”
For student journalist Rebekah Brunham the investigation was a valuable way to learn about investigations while also helping the public. “It was a lot of work. It was also kind of gross. Finding out about the restaurant standards that people have,” Brunham said.
“Some of it was like disappointing to learn about, but [it] was great to be able to bring that to the public.”
Edmonton Journal journalist Keith Gerein reflected on how the story forced the provincial government to respond.
“Winning awards is nice, but the icing on the cake is that the government actually read our stuff” he said.
“At this point, to have actual change happen because of our work—that’s really, to me, the best part of this.”
He said the collaboration, built on earlier Edmonton Journal reporting from 20 years ago, exceeded expectations.
“I certainly didn’t know what to expect as the person who had to coordinate this from the journal side of things, but I was very impressed… I was very impressed with everything that was put together,” said Gerein.
Brunham urged future students to take the course, BCSC 435 Investigative Journalism despite the intensity:
“Take the class if you can. It’s really great. It’s so much work. It’s not an easy course to take, but it’s very valuable long term for your career.”
