Journalism student awarded esteemed CJF-CBC Indigenous Journalism Fellowship

Second-year Journalism student Savannah Ridley is one of three recipients of the CJF-CBC Indigenous Journalism Fellowship. This esteemed award, established to amplify Indigenous voices and foster better comprehension of Indigenous issues, provides three early-career Indigenous journalists with the opportunity to explore issues of interest while being hosted for one month at the CBC News Indigenous Unit in Winnipeg. Ridley, the only student selected for the fellowship, is interested in pursuing a feature focused on the impact of pretendian unmaskings on Indigenous people reconnecting with their cultures.

Ridley learnt that she was one of the recipients of the Fellowship in an untraditional way, but nevertheless, she expresses her gratitude and enthusiasm for the opportunity. 

“It’s actually kind of a funny story. The CJF President and Executive Director Natalie Turvey emailed me that morning to tell me the good news, but I only stumbled across the message that afternoon when I was rifling through my inbox looking for a receipt to return something I bought,” she said. “When I finally saw the email, I truly could not comprehend what I was reading. I still can’t quite wrap my head around it. I’m just so thankful and excited to be granted such an exciting opportunity. It’s also tremendously reassuring.” 

Reconnecting with her community

The fellowship will provide Ridley the opportunity to relocate and pursue her story in the Indigenous Unit in Winnipeg, bringing a strong sense of her ancestral history to this feature. In addition to the reporting experience, fellows receive a $4000 training stipend provided by CJF. The story resulting from the fellowship experience will be considered for publication or broadcast by CBC News.

"This year's Indigenous Journalism Fellows have demonstrated strong commitment to community and the ability to ask compelling questions about timely topics," says Meagan Fiddler, senior producer at CBC Indigenous. "I look forward to welcoming them aboard." 

Ridley notes that she is most looking forward to learning skills from the team of journalists at CBC Winnipeg, as well as the other Fellowship recipients. 

“I’m most excited for the opportunity to be mentored,” she said. “I obviously still have so much to learn and I can’t wait to soak up as much knowledge and wisdom as I can.”

Taking classroom skills to the industry

Out of all the classes she’s taken in the Journalism program, Ridley says that the Literary Journalism course was one that took her work to the next level. She says taking the course with instructor Carly Lewis helped hone her craft in feature writing and long-form journalism.

“I cannot speak highly enough of my Literary Journalism and Journalism and the Arts instructor, Carly Lewis. Carly truly is a once-in-a-lifetime mentor and I thank my lucky stars every day that I enrolled in her JRN 508 class last year,” she said. “Carly introduced me to the world of feature writing and literary journalism and I immediately fell in love with the form. I would have never had the confidence to even apply for the fellowship had I not taken her class.”

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