2021 Judges

Kenyon Wallace is an Investigative reporter with the Toronto Star. He has reported on numerous public interest issues, including secret mistakes made by health care providers, unscrupulous driving schools, lawyers who steal from their clients, delays in Ontario’s program to detect rare genetic diseases in newborns, and the number of undocumented homeless individuals dying on GTA streets.

Pauline Dakin is an author, journalist, and journalism professor based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She teaches at the University of King’s College. Her first non-fiction book Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood was released by Penguin-Random House Canada under the Viking imprint in September of 2017.

Anne Marie Males is an experienced professor who has taught public relations at Humber College and Ryerson University. Her teaching career began after a 20+ year career in public relations, communications and administration. She is also an accomplished freelance writer whose credits include Readers Digest, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star and Homes Magazine.

Sonya Fatah joined Ryerson University’s School of Journalism in 2017 and currently works as an assistant professor. Although more of her recent time has been spent teaching in Canada, she has also taught multiple journalism courses in India and Pakistan. On her journeys she was also a reporter-on-assignment for the Globe and Mail and later a special correspondent for the Toronto Star where she covered South Asia. Sonya spends her time developing audio documentaries and has produced a full-length feature documentary called I, DANCE.

Andrew Lovesey currently a manager of editorial and travel partnership at Canadian Geographic and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He has written for a variety of Canadian publications such as: Globe and Mail, the National Post and Canadian Geographic, just to name a few. Andrew also worked in marketing for almost 10 years and has a specialization in stakeholder and community engagement leveraging digital and social mediums.

Kristy Woudstra is an award-winning writer and editor. She has worked for HuffPost, Today’s Parent, Outdoor Canada, MoneySense, Broadview as well as international development organizations. Her writing has appeared in many publications, including The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Living, CBC and This. Her first book, Highrise (Firefly Books, 2019), has been nominated for a Forest of Reading Award.

Archie McLean is currently an assistant professor at Mount Royal University in Alberta. Previously, he worked as a managing editor at CBC for four years and also spent many years gaining experience from the Edmonton Journal.

Dan Westell has worked as a reporter and editor for more than 40 years, doing stints at the Globe and Mail, Financial Post, National Post, Southam News and CBC. He has taught journalism at Ryerson University since the mid-2000s.

Dan Westell has worked as a reporter and editor for more than 40 years, doing stints at the Globe and Mail, Financial Post, National Post, Southam News and CBC. He has taught journalism at Ryerson University since the mid-2000s.

Dan Westell has worked as a reporter and editor for more than 40 years, doing stints at the Globe and Mail, Financial Post, National Post, Southam News and CBC. He has taught journalism at Ryerson University since the mid-2000s.

Anne Lavrih has been working in radio for more than 30 years and has done just about everything along the way. From a club and concert reporter to a ski and snowboard reporter. She’s covered traffic and news reporting as well as being a news anchor. More recently, Lavrih has been a writer, news editor and is currently the newsroom coordinator, a managerial role at 680 News. Lavrih also sits on two Program Advisory Committees; Sheridan and Humber College. For four years, she was also a professor at Centennial College teaching Radio News and Career Management. Lavrih also voices commercials and radio promotions and produces and voices a radio segment called the Today’s Parent Report. The broadcast feature, which tackles child and family issues, can be heard across Canada. Born and raised in Toronto, Lavrih graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA.

Donna Tranquada is the news anchor for Metro Morning and host of Radio Noon’s first hour on CBC Radio 740 as well.

Ayesha Barmania is a journalist, podcaster and sound artist living in Peterborough, Ontario on the traditional territories of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg. They have made podcasts and radio for the CBC, written for several Canadian magazines, and manage their own production business. Currently they produce two podcasts: Peterborough Currents and Sounds Like Life. They are the founder and managing director of Peterborough Independent Podcasters, a membership group that fosters the local podcasting community through education and resources.

Jerry Chomyn is the former head of media studies at the University of Guelph-Humber. He has led a successful career in broadcast journalism and ventured into the world of post-secondary education, where he has spent more than three decades leading innovative, award-winning media programs. Jerry is an influential figure in the Radio Broadcasting program at Humber College where he served as Director of Broadcast Media and was inducted into the Radio Humber Hall of Fame.

The founder and creative director of BlueMoon Productions, John Crampton has been involved in nearly every aspect of production since his days attending RTA at Ryerson University. He has been an editor, a cameraman, writer, director and producer, working on projects all over the world for most major television networks in North America. He has worked on programs like SCTV, the Olympics with CTV, drama, comedy and variety programming for NBC, CBS, and HBO. He created BlueMoon Productions as a new media production company to specialize in a wider variety of content creation that went beyond traditional broadcasting. From original documentaries to branded productions, marketing to communications videos, BlueMoon continues to be a busy content provider and John continues to enjoy being its “director of lightbulb moments”.

Mollie is a Toronto based freelance producer primarily working in the field of commercials, music videos and social content and a avid traveller. In her 15 year history working in production Mollie has filled multiple crew roles throughout the industry living and working in both of Canada’s largest film cities, Toronto and Vancouver. A graduate of Centennial College Film and Broadcasting program, Mollie first found her footing in production via her internship and after trying on many different crew hats over the years has settled back in production and back home in Toronto. She has been a judge with the Emerge awards for 5 years, ever since her return to Toronto and loves seeing all the fresh talent coming up through Canadian schools and ready to follow along a similar path to her own.

Jonathan creates creates story focused films that connect with people on a human level. Jonathan Fluevog is a Vancouver-based entertainment entrepreneur who has a unique perspective on legacy, family, and individuality. Drawn to sound at an early age, Fluevog started making his mark on the world through the creation of Vogville Recording in 1998. The development of this successful recording studio from the ground up tested Fluevog’s ambitions, turned his creative passions into bankable skills, and fortified his resilience. From then on he started music festivals, a TV show that lead to creating FineVog Films in 2013, Forget Me Not Films in 2015.

Stephanie Matteis is a senior reporter with CBC News, filing stories for television, radio & online. She’s a pathological truthteller and storytelling junkie whose work appears on CBC Toronto, The National and Marketplace.

Kieran Sells is an award-winning TV Producer who is currently the Senior Producer for Global’s “The Morning Show.” Beginning his career in New York City, Mr. Sells has worked on several hit talk shows including “LIVE! With Regis and Kelly” and “The Tyra Banks Show” where his team earned a Daytime Emmy Award. In 2008, he traded coasts, moving to Los Angeles to work on several reality shows. Since launching “The Morning Show” over eight years ago, Kieran has produced a number of high profile celebrity interviews including sit-downs with Taylor Swift, John Travolta, Amy Poehler, Daniel Radcliffe, and Regis Philbin.

Mélanie Saumure is a multidisciplinary visual artist who studied cinema at Concordia University in Montréal, and both documentary filmmaking and photography at Ryerson University in Toronto. By blurring the line between fiction and documentary, she likes to tell stories and to delve into different types of memories. Working across film, photography, artists’ books and print making, she uses archival and found material to explore the space between the personal and the impersonal, and to create new narratives. She lives and works in Montréal, and she is currently pursuing her studies in the Print Media department at Concordia University.

Steve Gravestock has programmed Nordic cinema for the Toronto International Film Festival since 1999, and has written extensively on the subject in a wide variety of outlets. His publications include A History of Icelandic Film, Don Owen: Notes on a Filmmaker and His Culture and Geoff Pevere’s Toronto on Film, which he co-edited with Kate Lawrie Van de Ven.

David Johnston is an award-winning documentary film producer, writer and literary agent with more than 25 years’ experience working with arts, cultural and not-for-profit organizations.

Janice Foreman, vice president and group leader for Hill + Knowlton Strategies, manages the company’s Toronto technology communications practice. She has extensive experience running large, complex client assignments such as Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft Canada, targeting both consumer and business audiences through stakeholder communications, corporate visibility initiatives, message development and more

Paul Godkin is a professor at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario where he teaches degree and diploma level courses in public relations. He began teaching full-time in 2007.

Rose Pereira is an art director and graphic designer with 17 years of experience in editorial and book design. She began her career at Transcontinental Media before moving to Chatelaine Magazine, where she produced numerous special interest publications with a focus on food, health and home interiors. At Royal Ontario Museum Press, Rose oversaw the design of the institution’s magazine, annual reports, and multiple exhibition books. Now working independently, she continues to produce publications across multiple sectors for clients such as Simon & Schuster, MaRS Discovery District, Elle Magazine and Upper Canada College.

As director of digital at Truth + Dare the agency for entrepreneurs and people who think like one, Richard Carmichael is the digital brain-trust and executional team leader who employs expertise, business intelligence and creative energy in meaningful and productive ways on behalf of T+D and its awesome roster of clients. Richard was part of the launch of ClubMonaco.com into the earliest realm of e-commerce back in 1998 and also won a Social GOOD Award for his work surrounding Clean Water Initiatives for Earth Month with Aveda and brought #Design into the classroom for school kids in Toronto via the DX for their Designers in the Classroom workshop series.

Sara Farnell is currently Product Design Lead at tilr. She spent eight years designing digital ads, branded content and campaigns before moving into digital product design. Farnell holds a BA in communications from Brock University, and certificates in design from OCAD and Brainstation.

Adrian Ma is an award-winning journalist, multimedia producer, professor and author. He specializes in teaching digital news reporting, personal branding and 360/VR storytelling at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. He has more than 15 years of professional experience as a writer, editor and content creator and has worked for numerous Canadian news outlets including the CBC and the Toronto Star. He has also written a book about Chinese-Canadian history titled, “How the Chinese Created Canada” (Lone Pine Publishing, 2010).

Adrian Ma is an award-winning journalist, multimedia producer, professor and author. He specializes in teaching digital news reporting, personal branding and 360/VR storytelling at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. He has more than 15 years of professional experience as a writer, editor and content creator and has worked for numerous Canadian news outlets including the CBC and the Toronto Star. He has also written a book about Chinese-Canadian history titled, “How the Chinese Created Canada” (Lone Pine Publishing, 2010).

Tony Tino has been the President of Craft Toronto for over 40 years.

Stephanie White is an experienced art director specializing in launching, redesigning, and rebranding multi-platform publications. Select accomplishments include the creative direction and launch of editorial online brand for RBC Direct Investing; Inspired Investor (https://inspiredinvestor.rbcdirectinvesting.com/en/di/hubs/inspired-investor/index), including most recently, the launch of a print extension magazine, the creative and design direction for locallove.ca, an online editorial brand for United Way of Greater Toronto, rebranding and redesign of Canadian Living print and digital magazine and founding art director and current art director of Zoomer magazine. White is the principal of StephRefreshed Design, working with several companies to freshen up their visual brand initiatives. Her broad experience ranges from photo/video shoot art direction, on-set styling, layout and graphic design.

Michael Erb has worked for over 20 years in the magazine and publication industry as designer, art director and creative director, developing a love for art directing food photography along the way. Always keen to work with talented people, Erb knows that the whole is most often greater than the sum of its parts.

Chris Bond currently runs his own design firm, The Brownstone Collective. With more than 20 years experience in multiplatform art direction and design, Bond works with editorial and PR clients on a variety of magazine, marketing, event and PR design piecers for some of Canada’s top brands.

Kathryn Gretsinger is the Senior Instructor at the University of British Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. She is a long time public broadcaster at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with a record of creating award-winning work at the local and national level in Canada. Kathryn is also a Killam Teaching Prize winner and she was named as one of North America’s top innovative journalism educators in 2018.

Kim Shiffman is Editor-in-Chief of Today’s Parent (print and digital), where she’s held progressively senior roles since joining the team in 2015. Prior to Today’s Parent, Shiffman worked on custom content for Rogers Media and online travel-deal publisher Travelzoo, and held senior editorial roles at Profit, the magazine for entrepreneurs, Allergic Living, and Chatelaine. Shiffman’s byline has appeared in more than a dozen publications, including The Globe & Mail, MoneySense, Canadian Business and Flare.

Kim Shiffman is Editor-in-Chief of Today’s Parent (print and digital), where she’s held progressively senior roles since joining the team in 2015. Prior to Today’s Parent, Shiffman worked on custom content for Rogers Media and online travel-deal publisher Travelzoo, and held senior editorial roles at Profit, the magazine for entrepreneurs, Allergic Living, and Chatelaine. Shiffman’s byline has appeared in more than a dozen publications, including The Globe & Mail, MoneySense, Canadian Business and Flare.

Kim Shiffman is Editor-in-Chief of Today’s Parent (print and digital), where she’s held progressively senior roles since joining the team in 2015. Prior to Today’s Parent, Shiffman worked on custom content for Rogers Media and online travel-deal publisher Travelzoo, and held senior editorial roles at Profit, the magazine for entrepreneurs, Allergic Living, and Chatelaine. Shiffman’s byline has appeared in more than a dozen publications, including The Globe & Mail, MoneySense, Canadian Business and Flare.

Louie Palu is an award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker whose work examines socio-political issues. During his 30-year career his work has been featured in the BBC, PBS, The New York Times, El Pais, The Guardian, TIME Magazine, Rolling Stone and many others. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and currently is working with National Geographic on a project on the Arctic.

Chris Donovan is a Toronto-based freelance photojournalist, photo editor, and member of Boreal Collective whose practice focuses on the intersection of community and industry.
His work has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International, The Alexia Foundation, The Sony World Photography Awards, The National Newspaper Awards, and the News Photographers Association of Canada – including being twice-named Canadian Photojournalist of the Year.
His clients include The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Maclean’s Magazine, The Washington Post, ESPN, and others.

Residing in Vancouver but originally from Whistler, British Columbia, Ali has also lived in Japan and England.

She has extensive experience organizing, assisting and fundraising for various associations and events such as Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver Molson Indy, World Cup Downhill skiing and World Cup Freestyle skiing, Vancouver Olympic Committee, North West Photo Fest, Capture Photography Festival, Contact Photo Festival and, most recently, the Zoom Photo Festival.

She has been involved with NPAC for over ten years in every capacity including Accounts Payable/Receivable, Sales, Marketing and Contract Negotiator.

Ali has also worked for Xerox Canada and Rank Xerox U.K. She’s taught English and skiing (but not at the same time), worked in construction, waited tables, bartended, worked in finance and then quit everything to go sailing in the Caribbean for a few months. But not necessarily in that order.

Barbara Adhiya brings over 20 years of experience in photojournalism, multimedia and stock photography. As an Editor and Multimedia Producer, she has covered most major news events with the top newswires, The Canadian Press/Associated Press and Reuters.

PhotoED Magazine Editor/ Publisher, Rita Godlevskis has extensive experience in creative media – specializing in photography. Professional assignments of note include photo editor roles with magazines such as Toronto Life, Australian Women’s Weekly, and Canadian House&Home. Rita holds a Masters in Creative Media from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, specialising in photography, and has exhibited her own work in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

With a clean, imaginative and thoughtful approach to every project, Larissa’s eye-catching work has been known to turn heads. From quirky to thoughtful her imagery and motion pieces hold a crisp aesthetic and a modern sense of clarity. Currently based out of Toronto, ON and available for worldwide commissions.

Melanie has over ten years of experience working in the contemporary arts industry and has a Masters in Art Curatorship from Melbourne University. Following her role as Gallery Director at LUMAS Gallery, Melanie is currently a Gallery Associate at Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto. Melanie is a member of the curatorial committee for the SNAP Annual Photographic Auction.

Melanie has over ten years of experience working in the contemporary arts industry and has a Masters in Art Curatorship from Melbourne University. Following her role as Gallery Director at LUMAS Gallery, Melanie is currently a Gallery Associate at Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto. Melanie is a member of the curatorial committee for the SNAP Annual Photographic Auction.