2014 Atlantic Journalism Awards Finalists
Attachments
| Slug/Label | AWTCOW |
|---|---|
| Date Aired or Published | Aug. 25, 2014 |
| Media outlet where first aired or published: | TC Media publications |
| Name of Program: | A Week That Changed Our World |
| If co-produced, list partner: | |
| Location: | Atlantic Canada |
| List awards, grants: | |
| Running time (TV/Radio): | |
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Short explanation of the story and how it developed: In August 2014, TC•Media began a very unique project. All too often as journalists, we spend time covering the big stories and breaking news. We chase the sirens and we dig into financial corruption. We forget about the ordinary, those moments in time that make up our lives but rarely make it into a newspaper. Something as simple as a child riding a bike on their own for the first time would never make the cover of any newspaper unless it was a very slow day, but it’s a moment that likely left that child and her parents elated for days. A Week That Changed Our World aimed to change all of that. It was a project that asked reporters to slow down and look a bit closer at our communities, finding the stories behind the scenes. It drilled down to the very essence of what makes us a community and emphasized storytelling. During a one-week period in August, all of TC•Media’s 29 papers in Atlantic Canada did set out. A total of 35 writers from the seven daily and 22 weekly papers filed stories from their communities about moments that they would normally never even notice. It represented local, people-focused news at its finest. A Week That Changed Our World was published two weeks later, with stories going online each day on each of the 29 websites and a selection of the stories and photos running in each print edition. This type of project was the first of its kind among TC•Media’s Atlantic chain of papers and involved incredible organization, mentoring of writers and urging them to step outside the box. All of the stories were very short, a maximum of 300 words, so every word had to count. Each story drilled down to focus on capturing just one moment in time. The reporters were also encouraged to push themselves as photographers and come up with unique photos to help tell the story. Also included with the stories were 20- to 30-second videos that captured their subject in the moment. This type of project was certainly groundbreaking in Atlantic Canada and was so successful and so well received by readers that it spurned a similar project in TC•Media’s Saskatchewan papers, called A Day That Changed Our World. These small sketches in A Week That Changed Our World told the story about what it is to be alive. Yes, it is a different kind of story – but it is the kind that really resonated with readers. Our journalists captured moments readers could relate to because our readers had been there. It was a week that told the stories of the lives of Atlantic Canadians. |
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Resources of the newsroom (money and time) available to complete the story: No financial resources; reporters from 29 dailies and weeklies in Atlantic Canada were asked to find a moment in time during the week of Aug. 11-17 to feature in series. |
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