Jade Prévost-Manuel is an alumnus of both McGill University and Western University, where she obtained a masters of journalism in 2020. A former CBC News associate producer, Jade has worked in investigative journalism, science journalism, and local and national daily news. In 2023, she used the Roving Reporter bursary to travel to Morocco to report for The Globe and Mail on how Canada’s ongoing recruitment of health professionals from other countries is negatively impacting the regions outside of Canada.
Isaac Phan Nay is a graduate of Carleton University’s journalism program. A former radio roomer at the Toronto Star, he has written for several publications. His reporting has earned recognition from the Emerge media awards and the Canadian University Press. The Vancouver-based journalist was awarded the Roving Reporter bursary in 2023 to report in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining region and to ultimately produce a podcast that ran in Canada’s National Observer.
Toronto-based Ania Bessonov was one of three recipients of the Roving Reporter bursary in 2023. Bessonov, who has worked at the CBC in Toronto as a senior writer and a producer for several platforms, is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s journalism program. She also has an MA in Security and Diplomacy from Tel Aviv University. As used the bursary to travel to the Central Asian region to report on how Russians, especially those from Siberia and ethnic minorities, fled in large numbers to avoid being conscripted into the Russian military. Her work appeared in the CBC.
Montreal-based freelance journalist Josie Fomé, a graduate of Concordia University’s journalism program, received the bursary in 2020. Fomé used the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary to explore what happened to communities in Kampala when borders closed and what do locals say is needed to make development work ethical as the world slowly attempts to “reopen” after the pandemic.
Sarah Lawrynuik, a graduate of the journalism program at King’s College, received the bursary in 2019. She explored the recent monumental political shifts that have led to the erosion of various freedoms in several Eastern and Central European countries. Her work was published by the Toronto Star and the CBC. She is currently based in Calgary and contributing to the CBC, National Observer and more as a climate/politics-focused journalist.
Katrina Clarke, a graduate of the masters of the Master of Arts in Journalism program at Western University, received the bursary in 2018. She investigated the failures and successes of Indigenous education across Atlantic Canada and in Australia, providing an international context to Canada’s efforts at truth and reconciliation. Her work was published by the Toronto Star, the CBC and by the Daily Gleaner. She currently works as a reporter with the Hamilton Spectator.
Annie Burns-Pieper, a graduate of the Master of Journalism program at Ryerson University, received the bursary in 2017. She travelled to Madagascar to report on US President Donald Trump’s reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule — which bans foreign aid to groups that perform or promote abortion — and hot it impacted global health programs, specifically family planning and women’s health services. Her work was published by the Toronto Star, the CBC and by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She was also the 2018 Michener-Deacon Investigative Reporting Fellow. She is a freelance investigative journalist and producer based in Toronto.
Corbett Hancey, a graduate of the journalism program at King’s College, received the bursary in 2016. He travelled to Lebanon to explore how the country was coping with the influx of refugees and the pressures of the Syrian civil war. His work was published by the Toronto Star. He was also the 2019 Michener-Deacon Investigative Reporting Fellow and recently completed his MA from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.
Jodie Martinson, a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism in 2010, received the bursary in 2015. Her documentary, Songs to Guide Us, focused on the musical past of escaped slaves who fled to Canada before emancipation. She followed gospel singer Khari McClelland who tracked his great-great-great-grandmother Kizzy’s journey into Canada as an escaped slave in the mid-1800s. Martinson travelled with him for six weeks to Detroit, Ontario and Nova Scotia to track Kizzy’s journey and the music of emancipated slaves. Her work was aired on CBC Radio’s Tapestry and as a nine-minute piece on The National. Martinson is an Emmy winning documentary maker and has worked with CBC Radio Vancouver as a producer since 2010.
Karen McColl, a graduate of the journalism program at the University of King’s College, received the bursary in 2014. She spent eight weeks canoeing the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to look at the impact of developments in remote areas of the territory on the small communities in the region. She had a series of text, photo and audio pieces published by theToronto Star, CBC North and a few smaller publications. She was based in Whitehorse, Yukon in 2014 as a freelancer and contributor to CBC North and continues to do so.
Tanya Springer, a graduate of Carleton University’s Master of Journalism program, received the bursary in 2013. She spent six weeks in eastern Europe to look at how Romani students were being integrated in Slovak schools. Her work was broadcast in the form of a radio documentary on Public Radio International. At the time, she was working at CBC Radio’s Day 6 and is currently a senior producer at CBC Radio’s The Doc Project.
Marion Warnica, a graduate of Carleton University’s Master of Journalism program, received the bursary in 2013. Her work focused on Peru’s mining industry (as well as climate change) and its impact on locals’ access to clean water. Her work was published as multimedia and text based features with the CBC. She has worked with CBC Edmonton as a reporter since 2012.
Robin Tress, a graduate of the journalism program at the University of King’s College, received the bursary in 2013. Her work focused on the oil industry’s effects in Fort McMurray, Alta. and how it affected workers and the people living in the area. Her work was published in the Toronto Star. She currently works with the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, where her work focuses on coastal climate adaption.