Lori Ewing of The Canadian Press has been awarded the Randy Starkman Award of Leadership in Sports Journalism.
Ewing, a 21-year veteran of Canada's national news service, was recognized for her in-depth reporting of safe-sport issues in 2022 in a ceremony on Wednesday night. Ewing has covered nine Olympics, most recently the 2022 Beijing Games, and often worked alongside Starkman.
"It's a huge honour because not only was Randy a really good friend, but he was also an incredibly professional journalist and probably the hardest working journalist I've ever met," said Ewing, who also won the George Gross Award as Sport Media Canada's sportswriter of the year in 2016. "I feel like I learned a lot from him in the time that we were friends and the time I travelled with him around the world."
Kerry Gillespie of the Toronto Star and CBC's Devin Heroux were the other finalists.
Ewing is CP's Toronto Raptors beat reporter and is known for covering figure skating, track and basketball. But following the Beijing Olympics in February she focused on safe sport issues, starting with Canada's top bobsled and skeleton athletes calling for the resignation of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton's top staff members.
Ewing went on to write about Boxing Canada, and Gymnastics Canada among other national sports organizations as calls for changes in Canada's sporting culture grew.
A highlight of Ewing's reporting came when federal sports minister Pascale St-Onge called for national sports organizations to remove non-disclosure clauses from their athlete agreements. Ewing's coverage of that story had an immediate impact on Canada's sports culture.
"After I wrote that story, there was an athlete from a national team that came to me and said, 'because of your story, we hired a lawyer to rewrite our athlete agreement,'" said Ewing. "I felt really satisfied about that."
In the wake of reporting by Ewing and other journalists, several sports executives left their roles and many national organizations signed on to Abuse-Free Sport, the federal government's new independent program to prevent and address maltreatment in sport.
“Congratulations Lori for this award," said St-Onge in a statement. "Your work has been instrumental to amplifying athletes voices, and pushed for a better sport system.
"Without you and the other journalists telling the stories of Canadian athletes, we wouldn’t be here today. I have a lot of respect for your amazing journalistic work. Keep writing to inspire current and future Canadian sports journalists.”
AthletesCAN created the Randy Starkman Award for Leadership in Sports Journalism in 2012, following Starkman's sudden passing a few months earlier.
Starkman was a longtime amateur sports reporter with the Toronto Star and was known as an advocate for Canadian athletes. AthletesCAN says the award recognizes Starkman's career and contributions in telling the stories of Canadian sport from an athletes’ perspective.
“Lori Ewing does this job so skilfully — she’s always be able to find that sweet spot between respecting the athletes, and calling them out when it's needed,” said Mary Hynes, Starkman's partner of nearly 30 years. “Lori has this immense empathy for the athletes she covers, while staying true to serious journalistic principles. And when she is in a jam, she will sometimes ask her herself, ‘What would Randy do?’”
Also Wednesday, Shaquille Murray-Lawrence, a former CFL running back who now competes for Canada in bobsled, won AthletesCAN's Social Responsibility Award.
Diver Molly Carlson won the True Sport Award, bobsledder Cynthia Appiah was named Rep of the Year for the #AthleteVoice Award, sprinter Seyi Smith earned the Bruce Kidd Leadership Award, and Canada's 3x3 Basketball team was honoured as the People's Choice Award for the most trending moment of the year.
"On behalf of our Board, staff and partners, I want to congratulate all of the winners of the 45th Canadian Sport Awards,” said Canadian Sport Awards committee chair Celina Toth. “We are truly proud of everyone that has continued to push for what is right, in order to create the changes that will allow for a safe and welcoming sport environment across the country."
AthletesCAN is the association of Canada's national team athletes. It works to ensure that sport systems in Canada are focused on athletes with a strong and healthy culture.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 21, 2022.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
