On October 24th, over 250 publishers, editors, designers and publishing professionals attended the third annual Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA) in Toronto to celebrate the best in editorial-based online and digital publishing. Included in this year’s prestigious list of finalists were Loyalist Journalism Professor Robert Washburn and E-Journalism graduate Adam Campbell.
Professor Washburn was one of three contributors to a J-Source series on the Russell Williams trial which was named as a finalist in the COPA Best Online-Only Article or Series category. J-Source is a project of The Canadian Journalism Foundation in collaboration with leading journalism schools and organizations across Canada. Professor Washburn wrote Tech on Trial which evaluated the pros and cons of the use of social media during the proceedings.
“More and more, newsrooms are recognizing the importance of the use of social media – Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and so forth,” said Professor Washburn. “Social media editors are working with citizen journalists and engaging audiences. I am very proud to be a member of this team of writers who were nominated for this award. I was also extremely pleased to learn that one of our Loyalist E-Journalism graduates, Adam Campbell, was part of the Dogs in Canada team which received three nominations – Best Use of Social Media, Best E-Newsletter and Best Online-Only Article or Series.”
Adam Campbell joined Dogs in Canada as Web Designer and Videographer in 2008. “I came to the College’s E-Journalism program thinking that I would learn a skill set – I left with a plethora of them. Robert Washburn has an instinct for knowing what will be popular before it takes hold which prepares graduates to enter the workforce as leaders. If it wasn’t for E-Journalism at Loyalist I would not be in this great position today.”
“We are very proud of our faculty and graduates and to see Robert and Adam recognized at the national level in the exciting field of online and digital publishing encourages us in the pursuit of journalism excellence in all of its new and changing forms,” said Loyalist College President Maureen Piercy. “Our three-year Journalism program prepares students to be flexible professionals in a full range of media – graduating with the skills needed to flourish in today’s integrated newsroom environment.”
For information about Loyalist’s Journalism – Online, Print and Broadcast program visit click here.
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Media Contact: Marilyn Warren, Marketing, Loyalist College, (613) 969-1913 ext. 2332; email: mwarren@loyalistc.on.ca or Jane Harrison, Dean of Media Studies, (613) 969-1913, ext. 2437