When Jack Webster retired from professional journalism in 1986, it left a void that could only have been filled by the developing and encouraging  generations of up and coming, successful news seekers and reporters to live up to the Gold standard many believe Webster had set in his career.

Last night, two community journalists with close proximity to CIVL Radio were recognized for their work, focusing on local, relevant, grass roots reporting.

Tyler Olsen from the Chilliwack Times was the sole Fraser Valley reporter recognized at last night’s awards, for his piece “A Growing Concern” chronicling the pervasive practice of running marijuana grow-ops in residential Chilliwack neighbourhoods.

Also recognized was Jon Steinman, from CJLY Kootenay Co-op Radio in Nelson, whose “Deconstructing Dinner” is archived Saturdays at 5 pm on CIVL Radio. Steinman was named as a finalist for the same Community Reporting award, for the September, 2010 Deconstructing Dinner episode “Local Food Fraud? An Investigation“, which has aired multiple times on CIVL 101.7 FM and can be heard and downloaded here.

CIVL Radio is proud to share communities with these leading reporters, and excited to dedicate content based on the same grass roots principles in our daily news programming, provided for by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, which you can podcast by copying this link and pasting it into your iTunes settings, or by checking back daily for updates here and on the CIVL Radio Facebook page or Twitter!