More award nominations for Canada’s National Observer

Canada’s National Observer is proud to announce another round of award nominations for our wonderful writers.

The first is a Digital Publishing Awards nomination for Chris Hatch for best editorial newsletter for his Sunday newsletter Zero Carbon. Chris is an eloquent writer whose newsletter is so well-written, his editors strain to find errors. A lifelong climate activist and journalist, Chris offers his readers a deeply researched analysis of climate issues.

Chris reads widely and it shows in his work, which gives readers a clear-eyed understanding of what we need to do to battle climate change, backed by the most up-to-date international research. While Chris doesn’t shy away from hard truths, he also offers hope with deep dives into solutions.

CNO reporter Matteo Cimellaro is also nominated for a Digital Publishing Award for best topical reporting on climate change for a story in a series he wrote about last summer’s fires. Matteo followed the story of the Skwlāx te Secwepemcúl̓ecw First Nation to illustrate the disproportionate harm to First Nations from wildfires.

His story includes interviews with people forced to flee and his writing captures the fear and trauma they experienced knowing their homes might not be there when they returned. His story captured the emotion of the moment but was also backed by original research charting the growing number of evacuations year over year as climate change increases the number and severity of wildfires.

“I’m so proud of these two superb climate writers,” Linda Solomon Wood said. “They are both leaders in moving the climate conversation forward in Canada.”

CNO has also received a nomination in the CJF Jackman Excellence Award’s small media category for Surviving Hate, a years-long collaborative project led by the Humber College StoryLab that used a survey to track alleged anti-Indigenous racism in hospitals which, according to experts and critics, continues to drive a disturbing pattern of neglect, harm and death.

Even after a Quebec coroner concluded racism contributed to the 2020 death of Joyce Echaquan in a Montreal-area hospital, there are still concerns about the treatment of Indigenous patients. As a followup to this incident and the publicity it generated, Surviving Hate surveyed patients to obtain first-hand accounts of care experts and advocates interviewed for the project judged to be substandard. The powerful stories of heartbreak and determination still resonate.

Winners of the Digital Publishing Awards will be announced on June 7 in Toronto and the CJF Awards will be announced June 12 in Toronto.