Vanguard’s news team among national investigative journalism award nominees

A series by the five members of the Vanguard’s news team has been named a finalist in the Canadian Association of Journalists’ annual outstanding investigative journalism awards.

The series, After the Crash, written and photographed by Tina Comeau, Carla Allen, Eric Bourque, Michael Gorman and Fred A. Hatfield, is one of five finalists in the under 25,000 circulation (community newspaper) category. The other four finalists in that category include three daily newspapers and a weekly newspaper from Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) is a professional organization with around 1,400 members across Canada. The Vanguard’s reporters and editors are members. The CAJ’s primary roles are public interest advocacy work and professional development for its members.

The investigative journalism awards are presented to print media, television and radio. Among the other nominees in the various categories are The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, CBC News’ the fifth estate, and that network’s National newscast, CTV’s W-FIVE , the Canadian Press and CBC Radio.

The Vanguard’s 21-page series After the Crash explored the consequences and aftermath of vehicle crashes. That series has already won first place in the Canadian Community Newspapers Association’s competition and is a finalist in the regional Atlantic Community Newspaper Association’s annual awards competition.

The CAJ awards are presented at the annual banquet in Edmonton on May 24.

This is the fourth time the Vanguard has earned a nomination for investigative journalism in the CAJ competitions.