THE DALTON CAMP AWARD
Winning Essays

2023 Winner – Phil Paine

We need a well-informed public to ensure democracy survives the next century. The 2023 Dalton Camp Award-winning essay.

Read Education Gave Birth to Our Democracy. Will It Protect It?

2023 Student Winner – Samir Baig

If we want young people to vote and get involved in the political process, the media has to start covering the issues that reflect their interests, and the politicians who will advocate for the policies they believe in.

Read Why We Don’t Care…and How to Get Us To

2023 High School Honorary Mention – Ellis Jackson

With a few conglomerates largely controlling the media in Canada, the diverse local perspectives that democracy needs to thrive are more easily ignored or silenced. And that is worrisome.

Big Names, Big Money and the Dangers of Media Concentration

2022 Winner – Sarah El-Shaarawi

Sarah El-Shaarawi is a Canadian writer, editor and researcher. She is managing editor of the journal Arab Media & Society, and a contributing editor at Africa Is a Country. Her work has appeared in Foreign Policy, The National, Newsweek Middle East, Stranger’s Guide and The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, among others.

Read The Similarities Between Red and Yellow

2021 Winner – Christopher Cheung

Christopher Cheung is a Vancouver journalist who writes about diasporas and the power dynamics behind urban change. He is currently a staff reporter at The Tyee. His essay Blind Spots is a powerful reflection on the importance of representation and on-the-ground community reporting in Canadian journalism.

Read Blind Spots

2020 Winner – Radiyah Chowdhury

Radiyah Chowdhury is a writer, producer and poet from Scarborough, Ontario with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Carleton University and currently works as Assistant Editor at Chatelaine. Her essay entitled The Forever Battle of a Journalist of Colour gives a powerful first-hand account of the systematic barriers faced by racialized journalists in Canada.

Read The Forever Battle of a Journalist of Colour

Q&A with Radiyah Chowdhury

2019 Winner – Samuel Piccolo

Samuel Piccolo is a PhD student in Political Theory at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He is from Ridgeville, Ontario. In 2017 and 2018 he was the Principal Reporter at The Voice of Pelham, where he wrote news, features, and personal essays.

A Sleepless Year in a Sleepy Town

2018 Winners

Brad Stollery – Winner

Brad Stollery is a federal public servant by day and a blogger by night. Brad grew up in central Alberta, but now lives in Ottawa. He has a Master’s degree in Political Science from Carleton University.

Canada’s Digital Divide: Preserving Indigenous Communities Means Bringing Them Online

Georgina Beaty – Best Essay by a Post-Secondary Student

Georgina Beaty is a writer, actor and artistic co-producer of Architect Theatre. She has worked at theatres across Canada and is currently completing a short-fiction collection for a MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. Her solo show Extremophiles is touring this spring.

Fighter Jets! Eclipse! What I Ate for Breakfast! – A Defence of the Unspectacular

2017 Winners

Taeja Liu – Winner

Taeja Liu is a writer and world traveller nearly finished her gap year. She likes to eat strawberry cheesecake and perfect her Instagram aesthetic. She will soon be in Vancouver studying Health Science at Langara (and hopefully building a future in which she adopts her own cat).

The Impact of Watching Orphan Black

Brooks Decillia – Best Essay by a Post-Secondary Student

Brooks Decillia is a longtime journalist and public broadcaster. He was a national reporter for CBC News for a decade. Brooks also served as executive producer at CBC News (radio, TV and online) in Calgary. He is currently a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics.

In Defense of CBC

2016 Winners

Kim Echlin – Winner

Kim Echlin is a writer, journalist and teacher whose work reflects her commitment to human rights and power of the media. Her books include Under the Visible Life, Elephant Winter, Dagmar’s Daughter, Inanna, and The Disappeared which was translated into 17 languages.

I Want to be Part of the Conversation

Amanda Oye – Best Essay by a Post-Secondary Student

Amanda Oye is a PhD student in the Communication and Culture Department at York University. She has a Master of Arts degree in Communication from Simon Fraser University and a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Her research interests include: broadcast policy, public service broadcasting and journalism.

Funeral For a Friend: A Eulogy for the Late Richmond Review

2015 Winner – Spencer Keys

Spencer Keys completed a Bachelors degree in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of British Columbia, where he is currently pursuing a law degree. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the UBC International Law Journal but still harbours dreams of writing for television.

The Freedom to Jest: Protecting our Democratic Right to Parody and Satire

2014 Winners

Randy Morse – Winner

Randy Morse is a political scientist, editor, artist, musician, and author of six books. He is the founder of several book publishing houses and a web-based publishing pioneer. He currently heads the Kaslo institute, an innovative rural-based think tank. He lives in Kaslo, BC, one of Canada’s quirkiest communities.

Small Towns, Big Media? Toward a Democratic, Professionally-Supported Media Renaissance in Rural Canada

Whitney Light – Best Essay by a Post-Secondary Student

Whitney Light is a writer and photographer from Winnipeg. Recently she completed a Master’s degree at Columbia Journalism School. She currently works as a journalist in Yangon, Myanmar. In her spare time, she is learning to play the guitar.

Unknown Unknowns: Reporting and Repression in The Information Age

In 2013, the deadline for essay submission was changed from March to November. The Award from that year was announced in March 2014.

2012 Winners and Finalists

Regan Burles – Winner

Regan Burles completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History at the University of Ottawa in 2011. He will commence a Master of Arts program in Political Science at the University of Victoria in September 2012.

“Filter Bubbles”: Public discourse in an age of citizen Journalism

Mark Brister – Finalist

Mark Brister is a freelance writer and graduate student at the University of Guelph.

The media narcissus, warring gladiators, and the carnival mirror

The 2012 DALTON CAMP AWARD was presented in association with the Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the The Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario on May 31, 2012.

2011 Winners and Finalists

Nancy Black – Winner

Nancy Black is a freelance writer and participant in the Royal Roads Masters of Professional Communication program. Nancy enjoys the many privileges of living in Calgary, Alberta but never takes them for granted.

Dismantling the Scarecrow: An Exploration Into Calgary’s Cultural Coming of Age

Joshua Noble – Finalist

Joshua Noble completed his Bachelors degree in Psychology at The King’s University College in 2010. He is a recent recipient of both the Academic Silver Medal and SSHRC Canadian Graduate Scholarship. He plans to begin working on his Masters of Communication at Simon Fraser University this autumn.

WikiLeaks, Canadian Media and Democracy: Media with a Face

Megan Cécile Radford – Finalist

Megan Cécile Radford is a 2011 graduate of the Master of Arts in Journalism program at the University of Western Ontario and has a Bachelor in Social Justice and Peace from The King’s University College. She grew up in Canada and Senegal and hopes to become a foreign correspondent.

How Canadian Newspaperwomen Won the Vote

Presentation of the 2011 DALTON CAMP AWARD Congress 2011 Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences Beaverbrook Art Gallery Fredericton, New Brunswick June 2, 2011.

2010 Winners

Ethan Rabidoux – Winner

Stratford, Ontario native Ethan Rabidoux is a graduate of Political Studies from Queen’s University and Journalism from the University of Western Ontario. He is a former debt collector, sailor and student leader turned radio journalist for 1240 CJCS in his hometown.

Street Gospels: Political cartoons and their role in canadian democracy

Rosalyn Yake – Winner

Rosalyn Yake is a graduate of Ryerson’s Journalism program, and is currently completing a Masters degree in Canadian and Indigenous Studies at Trent University. She has worked as a researcher and commentator at CBC radio in Quebec City, and is the founder of Starfish Scholarships India, a charity based in Toronto.

No news is Bad news: the 2006 norway house elections

Formal announcement and presentation: Musee des beux-arts, Montreal Quebec, Thursday, June 3, 2010.

2009 Winners

Mariam Sheibani – Winner

Born and raised in Ottawa, Mariam Sheibani is a graduate of the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs and Policy Management at Carleton University. In the fall she will begin her master’s degree in Legal Studies at Carleton University on a SSHRC Canadian Graduate Scholarship.

Canadian Media: Government ‘Watchdog’ or ‘Lapdog’?

Heather Stilwell – Winner

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Heather Stilwell completed a double major in political science and psychology at Dalhousie University. A resident of Montreal, she is about to begin graduate studies in journalism at Concordia University.

Remixing Democratic Discourse – New Media and the End of ‘Read Only’

2008 Winners

Matthieu Aikins – Winner

Matthieu Aikins is a freelance writer and photographer. While travelling in Europe, Matthieu learned that his essay won the 2008 Dalton Camp Award. He is a graduate of Queen’s University.

Democratic values and the institutions that nurture them

Fraser Maclean – Winner

Fraser Maclean is a graduate of the Art Institute of Vancouver (Recording Arts) and currently is a student at the University College of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. A passion for travel has led him across Canada, and to New York, Chicago, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia and Scotland.

Magic Mirror: YouTube and its Implications for Democracy

Formal announcement and presentation: the Congress of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Thursday, June 5, 2008.

2007 Winners

Gareth Lewis – Winner

Gareth Lewis is a recent university graduate from UBC. His passion for politics has led him to conferences at West Point USMA to NATO simulations in Washington DC. He is also an avid filmmaker, backcountry snowboarder and begins work with the international brewery InBev in August 2007 in Belgium.

Blogging Democracy: The contribution of political blogs to democracy

Audrea Lim – Winner

Audrea Lim is currently a Masters student in philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York and a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she completed a B.Sc. in physics and philosophy. She grew up in Calgary and has also lived in Taipei.

‘For’ and ‘Against’ Hérouxville: Democracy and the Question of Media Responsibility

Formal announcement and presentation: the Congress of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Thursday, May 31, 2007.

2006 Winners

Joe Goodwill – Winner

Joe Goodwill is a full-time writer, researcher and parent, and is also working on a Masters thesis in English Literature and Gender Studies. Born and raised in South Africa, Joe has lived for the past eight years in East Vancouver with three young daughters, two of whom were adopted in South Africa.

I’ve Looked at Life from Both Sides Now: The Media in Democracies and Dictatorships

Jocelyn Gerke – Winner

placed on the Canadian Young Historians’ National Award Honour Roll in 2003 for an essay on Canadian history. In the autumn of 2006 she will attend the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business combined with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations.

The Spirit of Democracy

Formal announcement and presentation: the Congress of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Thursday, June 1, 2006.

2005 Winners

Kurt Peacock – Winner

Kurt Peacock is a researcher and historian living in Saint John, New Brunswick. He has previously written for the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and the Telegraph Journal. He is currently working with Vibrant Communities Saint John, a community initiative designed to reduce poverty in Canada’s oldest incorporated city.

Dalton Camp would never have written like this: The Decline of National Reporting in Canada

Megan Wennberg – Winner

Megan Wennberg is a freelance writer, photographer and filmmaker living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Megan has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University, and a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College. Originally from Saint John, New Brunswick, she has lived and worked across Canada.

Judging democracy by its weakest link: when here becomes their

Formal announcement and presentation: Banff World Television Festival, Monday, June 13, 2005.

2004 Winners

Danielle Devereaux – Winner

Danielle Devereaux is a writer and a graduate student in Women’s Studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland. She has a strong interest in media education and is currently writing curricular guides for the Media Education Foundation, Northampton, Massachusetts. She lives in St. John’s.

Democracy as dialogue: how the media influence Canadian democracy

Careesa Gee – Winner

Careesa Gee is completing a Masters degree in International Affairs at Carleton University, where she also earned an undergraduate degree in Journalism. Her studies have included the role of the media in foreign policy. She has worked both for the print media and the Canadian government.

Uneasy Coexistence – Maintaining media freedom within the state security paradigm

Myles Leslie – Winner

Myles Leslie graduated from the Masters of Journalism program at the University of British Columbia in May 2004. He has worked as a reporter, writer, and editor for CBC National Radio, and has freelanced in the Vancouver press. He travelled to Hong Kong on a Canadian Association of Journalists’ student research fellowship in early 2004.

The King of Comedy: Reformatting Journalism to Rescue Democracy

A formal announcement and presentation took place at the Banff Television Festival Monday, June 14, 2004.

2003 Winners

Jean Coléno – Winner

Jean Coléno, originally from Montreal, is a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto where his research focuses on political theory and media studies.

Context and Ideology in the Canadian Media

Leslie Vryenhoek – Winner

Leslie Vryenhoek is a writer and communications professional in Winnipeg. She has worked in public relations and media relations for several non-profit organizations, including the Canadian Red Cross.

Mourning Strangers: The Impact of Emotional Reporting on Public Discourse

Russell Wangersky – Winner

Russell Wangersky is editor of the St. John’s Telegram and also a columnist and freelance magazine writer. His columns have appeared in the Edmonton Journal, the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen and the Vancouver Province. BBC Wildlife Magazine, Canadian Geographic, Maclean’s and Time have published his articles. He is the 2003 editorial winner in the Canadian Newspaper Awards.

EBITDA-mocracy: How Canada’s changing media threatens democracy

A formal announcement and presentation took place at the Banff Television Festival June 9, 2003.