JHR is honoured and delighted to announce that our organization has received the prestigious Michener-Baxter Award for Exceptional Service to Canadian Journalism this year. This is the highest journalism accolade in Canada.

Since its establishment in 1983, the Michener-Baxter Award has only been bestowed on eight Canadians and typically been reserved for individual journalists with a track record of impactful journalism. JHR has earned the distinction of being the first organization to receive the Michener-Baxter Award “for its outstanding performance in extraordinary times,” said the announcement from the Michener Awards Foundation. We are honoured to be recognized alongside two giants of Canadian journalism, Norman Webster and John Honderich, who have been generous supporters of JHR through the years. 

JHR has received this honour for our work over two decades to train and network media around the world, fight dangerous disinformation through the pandemic, and bring at-risk Afghan journalists, fixers and translators after the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021.

On the occasion of the announcement, JHR Executive Director Rachel Pulfer said, “This award recognizes the passion, dedication and sheer hard work of a truly extraordinary team whose scope spans from Tunisia to Mali, DR Congo to Kenya, Turkey to South Africa and back to Canada. Over 20 years, we have seen our effort to strengthen independent media pay off with some truly incredible, life-changing, democracy-affirming results on the ground, and the Michener-Baxter Award is a powerful recognition of that. This is a heartwarming moment for JHR staff and supporters.”

We are immensely grateful for our donors’ support and trust in JHR, which has made our work to empower journalists around the world possible. We could not have achieved this milestone in our journey without you. THANK YOU!