The Jack Webster Foundation is pleased to offer student journalism awards in order to foster the next generation of journalists in the province of British Columbia.
Applications for the 2024 Student Journalism Awards are no longer being accepted but stand by to find out who the recipients are– coming soon!
See below for more info and how to apply for next year, scroll down to “How to Apply.”
For 2024 six general Student Journalism Awards & one BIPOC Student Journalism Award is available for journalism students to apply for.
Three general awards are presented by:
One general award sponsored by the estate of:
Don Matheson
Two general awards presented by:
The Al Roadburg Foundation
Plus This Year – One BIPOC Student Journalism Award is Available
Presented by:
In 2024 one BIPOC Student Journalism Award will be available to a deserving student, with a preference for this award to go to an Indigenous journalism student. Should there be no/no deserving Indigenous journalism student, the award will go to another journalism student of colour. See last bullet point under “How to Apply” below.
How Student Awards are Allocated:
One $2,000 award is available to a worthy recipient from each of the following journalism programs in British Columbia:
- BCIT
- KPU
- Langara
- TRU
- UBC.
Of these 5 awards, if there is not a candidate deemed worthy of the award from one of the above noted institutions, then the Foundation reserves the right to award more than one award to another institution’s worthy applicant. The award will be paid directly to each student or to their student’s account at their respective post secondary institution.
One additional student award of $2,000, is also available for any worthy student from any of the 5, above listed post secondary institutions.
One BIPOC Student Journalism Award is available to apply for.
ELIGIBILITY
- An eligible applicant is a student who is enrolled in any year of a post-secondary journalism program at one of B.C.’s journalism schools.
- Eligible journalism programs: British Columbia Institute of Technology, Langara College, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Thompson Rivers University, University of British Columbia.
- To be considered, a student must be attending the current fall and spring terms and must be either a full or part-time student.
- A student is also eligible if they already hold a postsecondary degree and is in one of the above programs.
- One award of the seven available will be given to a B.C.-born journalism student.
HOW TO APPLY
Fill out the online application here. You will be asked for the following information:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Phone Number/Email
- Are you a full time student? Yes or No?
- Name of educational institution
- Expected graduation year
- Upload just one reference letter from someone who explains why they think you should receive this award, including their name, email, phone number
- Upload two pieces of journalism (published or not) that you have written/created– print/audio/video accepted, audio and video to be no more than 30 minutes each
- Upload your resume
- Opportunity to share additional information regarding challenges/obstacles you face that receiving this award would mitigate
- Upload an essay of not more than 500 words addressing the following questions, not necessarily in this order:
- What made you choose journalism as a career path?
- Where do you hope it will lead you?
- Which journalist’s work do you most admire and why?
- Without exceeding the word count, feel free to weave in additional points that will demonstrate to the judges your suitability for this award.
- If applying for the BIPOC Student Journalism Award, please indicate your background and how you identify with your community.
WHEN WILL THE RECIPIENTS BE ANNOUNCED?
Recipients will be announced in the fall.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE AWARD?
Each recipient will receive a $2,000 award paid to the student or directly to their student account at their post-secondary institution and will also receive a ticket to the annual Webster Awards evening.