Camp Award links media to democracy by Sean Patrick Sullivan

by Sean Patrick Sullivan

FREDERICTON (CUP) – We need to find ways to improve the quality of the news, to energize brain cells and not just zap eyeballs, said Knowlton Nash at the launch of the Dalton Camp Award Thursday.

The respected author and former host of CBC’s The National lauded the award, which encourages a new generation of Canadians to link democratic values and journalistic quality,

The award, sponsored by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, will honour the memory of the late Dalton Camp, one of Canada’s most revered journalists and a long-time political figure.

The Dalton Camp Award will be available to up to three Canadians each year, and will consist of a $5,000 prize for a winning essay on how the media influences Canadian democracy.

Citing Camp’s faith in the younger generation of journalists, Nash said the intention is to get young people involved in improving the quality of journalism.

“We need to make the important interesting, and not make the merely interesting seem important,” Nash told a crowd of journalists and journalism students at St. Thomas University.

“Dalton was always young,” added Nash, “and I think he always looked to the new generation for inspiration.”

CBC host Michael Camp said his father knew the value of getting a little recognition, and even the value of getting a little money.

“He would be proud if he knew one of these awards would lead to a young person getting a brilliant foundation in journalism,” said Camp.

The deadline for entries is March 31, 2003, and the announcement of the winner(s) will be held during the 2003 Banff Television Festival in June.

The Dalton Camp Award follows on the heels of St. Thomas University’s 1.5 million Dalton K. Camp Endowment, launched earlier this year.

The endowment will serve to fund a Journalist in Residence, a lecture series, scholarships, bursaries, and internships for the university’s Bachelor of Arts in Journalism program.

© The Brunswickan