Langara Journalism Program to feature at 2016 Jack Webster Awards
OCTOBER 19, 2016 - The Langara Journalism program will feature prominently at tomorrow evening’s 30th Annual Jack Webster Awards.
Shelley Fralic, a graduate of the program in 1980, is being awarded the 2016 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award. The Jack Webster Foundation’s premier honour, the award is named after the illustrious Vancouver Sun journalist who started out at the Victoria Times in 1917 and went on to become the confidant of prime ministers.
Rob Dykstra, a 32-year member of the program, will receive the 2016 Bill Good Award. Announced in 2014, the award honours a British Columbia journalist, broadcaster, builder, or educator who makes a significant contribution to the field of journalism or the community-at-large.
Fralic's 41-year career at The Vancouver Sun began in the paper's human resources department, working part-time nights. In 1979 she made a rare transition into the editorial department. Thereafter, she propelled herself through the widest possible variety of newsroom jobs, including Executive Editor at the dawn of journalism's digital age. She chose, however, to return to her first love, writing, when she took on a column for the last 15 years of her career. Fralic retired in 2016.
"Bruce Hutchison was the reporter's reporter, the writer's writer, the consummate newsman," said Fralic. "To say that I am honoured to receive this award would be more than an understatement. It is humbling."
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