Nominations are now being accepted for the 2025 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award. Scroll down just a bit below to find out how to nominate someone.
And/or nominate someone today for the Bill Good Award (click here) or Shelley Fralic Award (click here).
ABOUT THE BRUCE HUTCHISON LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT AWARD
The Jack Webster Foundation’s Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award honours an exemplary BC journalism career.
In 1991, the Jack Webster Foundation established a lifetime achievement award and presented it to Canadian journalism legend and the award’s namesake, Bruce Hutchison.
Hutchison’s writing career stretched from 1950 at the Victoria Times Colonist, but even earlier than that as a high-school student, to 1992 at the Vancouver Sun. In between, he worked for the Province, Winnipeg Free Press, Financial Post and Maclean’s. He wrote more than a dozen books, received three national newspaper awards, four honourary university degrees and three governor general awards.
His published opinions helped shape Canadian public policy for several generations and his writing about the land and its people have had a major influence on the way we think about who we are and what we might become.
AWARD CRITERIA & HOW TO NOMINATE SOMEONE
This annual award recognizes the careers of senior reporters and editors, video, digital and photo journalists, who have received distinction in their communities for work of long-lasting significance, clarity, fairness and innovation. The outstanding career of Bruce Hutchison is a primary guide in reviewing potential candidates. Please note that nominations will not be accepted for individuals posthumously. Likewise, please note that current Jack Webster Award and Shelley Fralic Award judges, plus board members of the Jack Webster Foundation and committee members of the Jack Webster Foundation are also not eligible to be nominated for this award. Recipients of this award, like the Bill Good Award, are chosen, after careful consideration by the Jack Webster Foundation Board of Directors. Please note that all other Jack Webster Award winners are chosen by an independent juried process that operates at strict arm’s-length from the Jack Webster Foundation Board of Directors.
To nominate someone, fill out the online nomination form here and be prepared with:
1. Approximate date span of the nominee’s multi-decade journalism career: (The more detail the better—if you can break down a 40-year career and state jobs/titles held over the years as pulled from a CV or other that would be helpful.)
2. Describe how the nominee has inspired excellence in others.
3. Describe the nominee’s contributions to B.C. journalism, and the province, and how they have had a transformational impact upon the journalism profession
4. Describe how the nominee has demonstrated innovation in journalism over the course of their career.
5. Describe how/when/where the nominee has been recognized for being a journalist who sets the bar high, with insightful journalism of exceptional quality.
Please attach the nominee’s resume, however if it is not available, provide a link to the person’s LinkedIn profile.
Please attach two letters of support. Note: one of these letter may be from the person submitting the nomination.
Nominations will be accepted until Sunday, May 18th, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.
Nominations will be held and considered for 3 years. No need to re-submit a nomination during this period.
2024 RECIPIENT
Belle Puri
2024 Jack Webster Foundation
Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Multi award-winning journalist, Belle Puri’s career began in 1977 and has spanned almost 48 years. While working at CKNW in the 1970’s, became the first mainstream journalist of South Asian heritage in Canada. While there she managed to convince the bosses to give her a shot at sports broadcasting. They listened and Belle became the first female sportscaster reporter. The bosses were happy, but members of the Metro Vancouver listening audience of the day were not ready for a “girl” doing the sports. Whereas the assignment didn’t last long, Belle’s position made it much easier for female successors to hold such positions in the months and years that followed.
After her stint in sports, Belle covered the brave tours served by Terry Fox, Steve Fonyo and Rick Hansen, but not as a sports reporter but as a hard-nosed news reporter and filed special reports for the Rafe Mair Show. She then went on to be a reporter at the Legislature where she covered the reign of Bill Bennett and Bill Vander Zalm.
From CKNW, Belle went on to work at BCTV. It was during the 80’s that her in-depth look at grizzly bears led to the designation of B.C.’s Khutzeymateen Valley as a grizzly bear sanctuary. Her reporting on this is well known, precedent-setting environmental and advocacy reporting.
In 1992, Belle moved to CBC where she has reported locally and nationally. At CBC Vancouver, she has worked as the BC Legislative Bureau Chief, hosted CBC Radio’s “On the Coast”, hosted that station’s TV evening news, and spent four years as a business reporter for Newsworld Business News.
Some of Belle’s career assignments have included provincial politics, federal political leadership conventions, EXPO 86, the Commonwealth Conference, the Clinton/Yeltsin Summit, Royal visits, APEC, and the 2010 Olympics. She has covered the B.C. doctor shortage and the ICU Covid Unit at Royal Columbian Hospital which has put a light on issues that are now getting the changes needed in the province.
Belle has also worked as a senior producer and assignment editor at CBC which has made her an important leader and mentor in the newsroom.
2023 RECIPIENT
Frances Bula
2023 Jack Webster Foundation
Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Over her 35+ year career, Frances Bula has made significant contributions to the field of journalism in B.C. and has inspired excellence in others through her work as a journalist, commentator, journalism instructor, and professor. Her extensive experience reporting on urban issues and city politics, as well as her willingness to share her knowledge and expertise, has helped to raise the bar for journalism in British Columbia. As a teacher and professor at Kwantlen, Langara and UBC, Bula has inspired excellence in her students by encouraging them to think critically and creatively about the craft of journalism. She is known for her dedication to her students’ success in the fast-changing and challenging field of journalism. Bula’s dedication to excellence in journalism has also been demonstrated through her own work as a journalist. Her writing has been widely recognized starting with community newspapers in 1983, with the Vancouver Sun for 21 years, as a contributor to the Globe and Mail for almost 20 years, covering City Hall for 29 years plus work with Vancouver Magazine and BCBusiness Magazine where she currently has a column. She’s received many regional and national awards, and from the publications listed it demonstrates how she has been sought out by many for her expertise on urban issues and city politics. Bula’s contributions to the profession have had a lasting impact on journalism in B.C., and on the people and communities she serves through her reporting.
2022 RECIPIENT
Stephen Hume
2022 Jack Webster Foundation
Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Over a journalistic career spanning half a century (and still going strong), Stephen Hume has been an Arctic Correspondent, Editor-in-Chief, General Manager, published poet and author of seven books, a journalism instructor at Vancouver Island university and for 30-plus years a beloved columnist for The Vancouver Sun and now for Focus on Victoria magazine. Mr. Hume has a deep love for and knowledge about British Columbia — its natural beauty, abundant wildlife, complex history, rich resources, diverse people. He has travelled every region of our vast province, telling stories from small towns and big cities, about everyday folks and powerful leaders. Hume demonstrates mastery of long-form feature writing, weaving many threads of a story together into a multi-layered whole informed by deep historical
knowledge and current context. His skill and insight has won him many fans of his columns over the years and numerous journalism awards including, but not limited to the Southam President’s Award for commentary, many national newspaper award citations, and a Webster Award in 2000.
2021 RECIPIENT
Shusma Datt
2021 Jack Webster Foundation
Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Over the last four decades legendary broadcasting pioneer Shushma Datt has blazed a trail that reads like a film script.
Her career of “many firsts” began at the Times of India, followed by a stint at the BBC.
After moving to Vancouver in the early 1970s and being rejected for work with mainstream media because of her Indian accent, she decided to go to an employer that would recognize her talent, innovative spirit and tenacity – herself.
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
BRUCE HUTCHISON LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT ALL AWARDEES
| 1991 | Bruce Hutchison |
| 1992 | Len Norris |
| 1993 | Warren Barker |
| 1994 | Jim Hume |
| 1995 | Moira Farrow |
| 1996 | George Garrett |
| 1997 | Denny Boyd |
| 1998 | Dan McLeod |
| 1999 | Cameron Bell and Keith Bradbury |
| 2000 | Roy Peterson |
| 2001 | Patrick Nagle |
| 2002 | Allan Fotheringham |
| 2003 | Rafe Mair |
| 2004 | Tony Parsons |
| 2005 | Vicki Gabereau |
| 2006 | Vaughn Palmer |
| 2007 | Jim Harrison |
| 2008 | Steve Wyatt, |
| 2009 | Bill Good |
| 2010 | Jim Taylor |
| 2011 | Mel Rothenburger |
| 2012 | Patrician Graham |
| 2013 | David Baines |
| 2014 | Brian Coxford |
| 2015 | Gary Mason |
| 2016 | Shelley Fralic |
| 2017 | Kim Bolan |
| 2018 | Clive Jackson |
| 2019 | Fabian Dawson |
| 2020 | John Daly |
| 2021 | Shushma Datt |
| 2022 | Stephen Hume |
| 2023 | Frances Bula |
| 2024 | Belle Puri |
