Journalism’s got talent: what it’s like judging journalism and nonfiction

As students and faculty are in the last lap of the winter semester, one journalism professor is preparing to spend her summer reading hundreds and hundreds of nonfiction work in hopes to find Canada’s best. 

Eternity Martis is a first-time judge for the CBC Nonfiction Prize (external link) . The award-winning journalist says being a judge is an honor. 

“I think that the CBC Nonfiction Prize is a really prestigious award, on the side of the writers, and so to be able to be part of that as a judge, getting to determine, which story is selected is really exciting,” says Martis.

In every contest, a panel of judges look for a winning piece that sticks out to them, Martis says the best stories are the ones that appeal to readers on an emotional level. , She served as a judge last year for Amnesty International’s (external link)  awards for human-rights reporting.

Most of the school’s faculty have served as judges for various awards honouring excellence in reporting and writing. 

Associate Professor Gavin Adamson says as a judge, he would look for stories that are going to have an impact on society.  

“You want the “journalism” to say, here's a concern that the public has, and here's what the concern is, and here's what the stakeholders are saying about it, and also, how people are, how politicians are taking it seriously,” says Adamson.

Adamson has been a judge for the National Newspaper Awards (external link) , the Canadian Online Publishing awards (external link) , and the business journalism awards, among others.

He says that being a judge strengthens his teaching work as it gives him the opportunity to work along with peers to assess the strengths and weaknesses in a journalist's work. 

“It's just such an amazing time because you get a sense for what journalists care about and also what the public is reading and what they care about,” says Adamson. 

Adrian Ma, assistant professor at the School of Journalism, says awards are a way to shine light onto the important stories and issues that deserve more attention.

“While winning awards certainly isn't the reason most of us get into journalism, it's awesome to see reporters and news organizations get recognized for their hard work,”says Ma.

Ma has been a judge at the RTDNA Awards (external link) , Atlantic Journalism Awards (external link)  and the Quebec Community Newspapers Association's Better Newspaper Contest.

Being a judge doesn’t come without its challenges. Ma, says that it can be hard choosing a first-place winner. 

“Sometimes it comes down to the smallest details for a judge,” says Ma. 

For Adamson, the difficulties come from the differences between judges in what’s considered news value. 

“You're not always coming from the same perspective and in that sense, you just try to make your case as best as you possibly can. And you try to underline what you believe are the most pressing issues for various communities,” says Adamson. 

However, Martis has had the opposite experience. “We were really all on the same page, I think it is a great sign when you're on the same page. And we saw the power in those stories,” says Martis.

A question that every journalist might ask themselves is how can one even judge journalism? 

Ivor Shapiro, professor emeritus at Toronto Metropolitan University, examined (external link)  how judges assess what “excellence” means in journalism. He determined that many valued reporting rigor and writing style. 

But whether these competitions are judged fairly, Martis says that there’s been a long history of “one type of person” and “certain types of stories” that are selected, and this goes back to the jurors not being impartial. 

She says she and her fellow CBC Nonfiction judges have a wide range of expertise, which makes her confident it will be judged fairly. 

“I think that the best thing with this jury is that even with all our varied experiences, we're all storytellers. We know the power of a really good story,” says Martis. 

“Without nonfiction, so many of the stories that we hear today about injustice, about triumph, so many of the stories we hear about each other and how we relate to each other, are because of nonfiction,” says Martis.

Martis will be busy reading this summer - last year, there were 1700 CBC Nonfiction Prize entries (external link) .