JHR recognizes strong human rights journalism through awards and professional development opportunities. Please see below for information on current and upcoming opportunities.

Criteria: the award is for achievement, and the individual or team nominated must have played a key role ensuring that human rights are front and centre of coverage. Further, through that person or team’s coverage, those who have historically been left out of important public conversations about issues that affect them are able to take their place, make their voices heard, and positive change has happened as a result of that work. Please nominate your contender, or nominate yourself, using the form below.

For nominations and more information go here.

GORDON N. FISHER/JHR JOURNALISM FELLOWSHIP AT MASSEY COLLEGE

The Gordon N. Fisher/JHR Journalism Fellowship at Massey College in the University of Toronto is an annual opportunity for a journalist from one of JHR’s program countries, including the Indigenous Reporters Program, to participate in the William Southam Journalism Fellowship Program.

You can apply here 

About the Fellowship

The Gordon N. Fisher /JHR Fellowship runs in tandem with Massey College’s Southam Fellowships and takes place over one academic year – September to May – at the University of Toronto.

Fellows can enroll in any graduate or undergraduate courses at the University of Toronto and have access to its many facilities. Fellows live at Massey College, a multi-disciplinary graduate residential college in central Toronto. The Fellowship is awarded in recognition for the chosen Fellow’s career contribution to human rights reporting in their country of operations. Fellows do not receive credits or degrees for work done during the year. The Fellowship covers travel costs and accommodation, all university fees, and a monthly stipend.

Funding has been provided by a generous endowment from the Alva Foundation to honour the late Gordon N. Fisher, a noted Canadian publisher of the Southam Press. The program is administered by Massey College in the University of Toronto, the host organization in Canada, with the support of Journalists for Human Rights.

2019-2020 Gordon N. Fisher / JHR Fellow

Dana Gibreel is a Jordanian journalist who has worked as a reporter, news producer and anchor. Currently she is a senior reporter at the online magazine 7iber. She has produced features on the rule of law, government accountability, refugees, rural economics, the environment, and other social, cultural and political issues. In 2016, she won first and second prize at the JHR Human Rights Reporting Awards in Jordan for reports on mental health and the use of lethal force during police raids. She also received first place in 2017 for Best Multimedia Investigation in the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism.

Each year, JHR partners with the CAJ to recognize the best in Canadian human rights reporting. This prize rewards journalism that puts a human face on situations where human rights are not respected and/or holds authorities to account to do a better job of protecting those rights. As a result, the story builds awareness of human rights and social justice issues, and shows the human impact and the human cost of abstract political and economic forces. Recipients receive public recognition for their work and a $1,000 cash prize.

Applications currently closed.

This year, Journalists for Human Rights and the National NewsMedia Council of Canada are pleased to introduce a brand-new award: the Fraser MacDougall Award for Best New Canadian Voice in Human Rights Reporting, recognizing the best new Canadian voice working on human rights reporting today.

The award winner will receive public recognition, a $1,000 cash prize and a place in the 2018 cohort of JHR Ambassadors – individuals whose work and conduct exemplify the best of JHR’s core principles of fostering human rights reporting to achieve positive change.

Nominations are closed.

A shortlist of nominees will be announced two weeks out from the gala, and the nominee will be recognized at the gala.

More information can be found here.

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JHR Student Chapters

JHR Student Chapters raise human rights awareness at university and college campuses and raise funds to support JHR’s media training programs.

JHR Student Chapters bring discussion and action on media, development and human rights to campuses and communities across North America. Student Chapters start important conversations, raise awareness about JHR’s media training, and host great events.

If you would like to start a JHR Chapter at your school, we would love to hear from you. Send an email to [email protected] to get the conversation started.