Friends of Canadian Media announces recipients of 2025 Dalton Camp Award and inaugural student scholarship
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 23, 2025 – TORONTO – Suzie Dwyer has won the 2025 Dalton Camp Award for her essay Lessons from Around the Dinner Table, a heartfelt reflection on storytelling’s essential role in fostering cross-generational civic education.
The Dalton Camp Award is a $10,000 prize for the best essay on the link between media and democracy, presented annually by Friends of Canadian Media.
Suzie Dwyer is a Canadian wife, mother, educator and lover of books from Cape Breton Island.
“Rather than being an abstract thing, stories make us consider what our democracy means for us personally, in our lives, and in the lives of fellow citizens.”
– Lessons from Around the Dinner Table
The Award was created in 2002 to honour the memory of Dalton Camp, a distinguished commentator on Canadian public affairs. The winners were chosen from over 200 entries. The winning essays can be read at here.
Friends of Canadian Media also announced the winner of its inaugural $2,500 scholarship, presented in tandem with RDTNF Canada to a student who demonstrates a strong enthusiasm for politics and a solid comprehension of journalism’s role in a thriving democracy.
The 2025 scholarship is awarded to Jay Ashdown for Don’t Read the Comments, a vital news story on the endemic problem of online hate faced by marginalized Canadian journalists. Jay is a Toronto-based, award-winning writer and graduate of TMU’s Bachelor of Journalism program. He has worked at Ricochet Media and The Eyeopener and occasionally dabbles in film critique for Met Radio.
“Traditional reporting structures often leave journalists to fend for themselves, with little to no guidance. They have been their own watchdogs for years, self-reporting traumatic experiences, including interactions with their disinterested bosses.”
– Don’t Read the Comments
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