CTV's W5, the longest-running newsmagazine in North America, has been selected as this year's recipient of the Gordon Sinclair Award for Broadcast Journalism for the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards. Other special honorees are Semi Chellas, David Cronenberg, Alanis Obomsawin and Alan Sawyer.
W5, which airs Saturdays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, first aired in 1966 and was a forerunner to and direct inspiration of CBS' acclaimed 60 Minutes. Hosts have included Michael Maclear, Henry Champ, Helen Hutchinson, Eric Malling and the current lineup of Lloyd Robertson, Sandie Rinaldo, Kevin Newman, Lisa LaFlamme, Victor Malarek and Tom Kennedy.
"The Gordon Sinclair award recognizes W5's decades-long commitment to investigative and inspiring journalism," says executive producer Anton Koschany. "We have led the way and week after week Canadians take the time to watch our reports."
Early highlights from the program’s history:
• W5's first report was about lax gun laws that allowed a teen to buy a rifle and take it to the top of Toronto city hall and take aim, which Koschany remembers as "powerful journalism for 1966."
• The program once featured Dr. Henry Morgentaler performing an abortion on Canadian TV.
• Michael Maclear was in Hanoi as the U.S. launched a massive bombing campaign.
• Eric Malling changed the way Canadians look at debt when he showed us New Zealand on the verge of bankruptcy.
More recently, W5 has investigated used auto sales practices (changing the way new and used cars are sold in this country), the treatment of farm animals in Canada’s food supply, safety concerns about smoke detectors and reported on the wrongly convicted.
"And week after week we continue the tradition – telling stories that matter," Koschany said.
Other special award winners of the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards -- to be presented as part of Canadian Screen Week on March 3-9, 2014 -- include:
Margaret Collier Award — For a Writer’s Exceptional Contribution to Canadian Television
SEMI CHELLAS
You’ve heard her words on Mad Men, Rookie Blue and The Eleventh Hour: three-time Gemini Award winner and Emmy-nominated writer and screenwriter Semi Chellas is the deserving recipient of this year’s Margaret Collier Award. Born in Palo Alto, Calif., raised in Calgary and based in Toronto, Chellas was co-creator of the critically acclaimed prime-time Gemini Award winning series The Eleventh Hour, recently wrote the TV movie Murder on Her Mind and also authored the Gemini/Emmy nominated Dead Aviators for Showtime/CBC, as well as directed a series of short films. She is co-executive producer of Mad Men.
Lifetime Achievement Award (FILM & TV) — For Exceptional Contribution to the Canadian Film & Television Industry
DAVID CRONENBERG
Innovative Toronto filmmaker, screenwriter and actor David Cronenberg has reimagined the cinematic landscape with such groundbreaking body horror and sci-fi films as Rabid, Videodrome, Dead Ringers and Crash. With his films tallying more than $230.7 million at the worldwide box office, Cronenberg, the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, has been rewarded for his unique, imaginative and progressive artistic vision with the Cannes Film Festival’s Carrosse d’Or; the Légion d’honneur in France and is an Officer of the Order of Canada. "David Cronenberg: Evolution" – a Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) exhibition honouring his work, opens October 30.
Humanitarian Award (FILM & TV) — For Exceptional Contributions to Community & Public Service
ALANIS OBOMSAWIN
Born in New Hampshire and raised in Quebec, Order of Canada Officer Alanis Obomsawin is an Abenaki-Canadian documentarian credited with chronicling First Nations culture and history for more than 40 years. This year’s Humanitarian Award winner has been previously honoured with The Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement and a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. Obomsawin’s latest documentary -- 2013’s Hi-Ho Mistahey! -- premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September.
Digital Media Trailblazing Award (posthumously) — For an Outstanding Achievement in Canadian Digital Media
ALAN SAWYER
Emmy-Award winning trans-media storytelling consultant and interactive content creator Alan Sawyer is this year’s Digital Media Trailblazing Award recipient for his efforts in advancing the development of and interaction between digital platforms and more traditional media. Sawyer was interested in the policy implications of changing media and media consumption and worked with the CRTC and other organizations to improve our understanding. Sawyer was also a matchmaking liaison between producers, broadcasters and emerging digital media companies, and a teacher, mentor and friend to many who worked in this still emerging field.
