3 Toronto Star interns nominated for National Newspaper Awards

Three journalists from the 2008 - 2009 Toronto Star intern program have been nominated for National Newspaper Awards, one of the top honours in Canadian journalism.

Reporter Kenyon Wallace, 29, designer Jason Chiu, 26, and photographer Pawel Dwulit, 26, are among the 66 finalists in  22 categories announced on March 15, from the National Newspaper Awards office in Toronto.

The Star one-year intern program runs from September to September and is open to graduates under the age of 30 who have never held a full-time, permanent staff position at a Canadian daily newspaper.

There were 1,301 entries in this year's NNA competition for works that appeared in 2009.

In all, 20 news organizations have been nominated.

The Star has been nominated for 14 awards.

The awards will be handed out at a ceremony on May 14 in Toronto.

Wallace is nominated for his on-the-scene reporting of the crash of a helicopter off the coast of Newfoundland and the loss of 17 lives last March.

Dwulit is nominated for his photo of a child wiping tears from a father’s eyes after the man's son was killed outside a convenience store.

Chiu shares a nomination with David Pratt for their work on the Saturday, Dec. 26 Globe and Mail edition entitled “Decoding the Decade: The Future So Far".

We asked them what it was like to be in the company of some of the best journalists in the country.

Pawel Dwulit
How does it feel to be nominated for an NNA?
It's an honour to even be nominated for an award that has recognized many talented photographers over the years.

Why were you nominated?

I was nominated for a photo I took while on assignment last summer for the Star. Reporter Robyn Doolittle and I spent the afternoon going back to the scene where a day earlier a teenage Tamil man was attacked and killed outside of a convenience store. We spoke to some people at the scene including a young man who told us how young Tamils take the law into their own hands. We then went to the home of the boy and were invited in to speak with members of the family. The father sat on the couch and began talking about his son while other members of the family surrounded him for support. I had my camera ready and asked the family if I could take a photograph during the interview. A sister gave me the OK and that is when the father began to break down and a little girl wiped a tear from his eye. I clicked the button without really looking through the viewfinder. After the brief interview we left. I knew that I had the photo and it turned out that it ran front next day.

Did your time at the Star help you get to the nomination?

While I was at the Star I was on a year long photo department internship. The position allowed me to experience the same variety of assignments as a full-time staff member and I found myself more and more attracted to the variety of work. Other staff members were very encouraging and let me pick their brains on their experiences. It is because of these talented people that I managed to get nominated.

Kenyon Wallace                                                                                                                                         How does it feel to be nominated for an NNA?
It's a great honour to be recognized. We certainly don't do this job for the perks, but when your hard work is acknowledged, it's always a good feeling.

Why were you nominated?
You'd have to ask the judges about that. There is so much fantastic journalism out there that never gets recognized. One hopes that judges nominate work that not only answers the basic questions that make up the bare bones of a news story, but also work that tells the story well, casts forward, and provides context.

Did your time at the Star help you get to the nomination?
Of course. If I hadn't worked for the Star at the time, it's doubtful I would have been sent to Newfoundland in the first place. On top of that, the high-paced work environment at the Star helped prepare me for the kind of "hit-the-ground-running" journalism that is required for stories like the one I covered.

Jason Chiu                                                                                                                                                 How does it feel to be nominated for an NNA?
Pretty good. 

Why were you nominated?
I was nominated alongside my colleagues David Pratt for our joint effort on the December 26th Saturday Globe and Mail edition entitled “Decoding the Decade: The Future So Far”  The project was a colossal effort involving 32 pages, 11 sections, 70 contributors, 250 slugs, 243 photos and 18 graphics and illustrations. One of the primary goals of the project was to recap the last 10 years of history outside of a narrative form.  
While I can’t speak for the judges, I can only guess that they nominated the design for its innovation, for its size, and unique nature.  It also serves as an example to demonstrate how an elegant and functional design can go a long way to making hundreds of small items come together in concert, as one piece. 

Did your time at the Star help you get to the nomination?
Yes.  There’s a saying by Otto Von Bismarck that goes something like this: “Laws are like sausages – it is best not to see them being made”.  Well, the Star taught me more or less the same thing.  The news is like sausages — it is best not to see them being made, especially if you are a vegetarian (which I was for part of my time at the Star, but am no more).  My time at the Star taught me how to stomach the daily news file, the routine, the news desk, the 3:45 news meeting, and the idea (in that moment) that I played a small role in a larger wheel.  My time there taught me tact, cool, and most importantly, how not to take one’s work home at the end of the day. 

Wallace is a reporter at the National Post, Chiu is a design editor at the Globe and Mail, Dwulit is a freelance photographer in Ottawa.