CBC's Don Newman wins Gordon Sinclair Award
CBC News senior parliamentary editor Don Newman has won the Gordon Sinclair Award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
The award, named after an outspoken Canadian journalist, honours those who have made a significant contribution to Canadian journalism.
Newman is host of CBC Newsworld's daily program Politics and chief political and special events broadcaster for CBC Newsworld.
Newman joined CBC in 1976 as its Washington correspondent and began in the parliamentary bureau in 1981.
He has contributed his analysis and incisive reporting to major national political stories ever since, including the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the failed Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords, federal legislation and elections, including the 2008 election.
A native of Winnipeg, he was named to the Order of Canada in 1999.
Newman will be presented with the Gordon Sinclair Award Oct. 20 at the Gemini gala for news, sports and documentary awards. The Gemini Awards honour the best in Canadian television.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television announced four other special awards on Monday.
Other winners are:
- Canada Award, for excellence in television that shows Canada's racial and cultural identity, to Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny, a collaboration between filmmaker Mark Sandiford and Inuit writer and satirist Zebedee Nungak.
- Earle Grey Award, a lifetime achievement award for work in television, to actor and director David Gardner, who won a Gemini for his role in Traders.
- Margaret Collier Award, a lifetime achievement award for writing to the late David Cole, screenwriter for Cold Squad, Black Harbour and Seeing Things.
- Gemini Humanitarian Award to CityTV Toronto news anchor Gord Martineau who is active with Operation Herbie and the Herbie Fund, which provide life-saving surgeries to impoverished children.