Toronto, ON – In this year’s unprecedented results, two Canadian journalists have ‘tied’ to receive the 2006 Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit, in recognition of their outstanding achievements in enhancing public understanding, support for, and awareness of, the literacy cause through their work published in the previous calendar year.

At a dinner celebration in Toronto last night, ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation presented the awards to Irene Davis, a Toronto-based freelancer whose piece “Literacy opens a brighter world” was published in the November, 22, 2005 Facts & Arguments section of The Globe and Mail, and Mike Aiken, a reporter with the Kenora Daily Miner & News and the Lake of the Woods Enterprise, for a number of articles related to the literacy challenges facing the Kenora, Ontario-area Aboriginal community.

The award program, founded in 1993 in honour of the late veteran broadcaster and writer Peter Gzowski – a passionate champion for literacy – is open to all Canadian journalists working in any medium.

“An exceptional circumstance led to our decision to honour two individuals,” says ABC CANADA President Margaret Eaton. “The judging panel concluded that both were equally deserving – Ms. Davis for writing compelling commentary and Mr. Aiken for his tenacious, research-driven reporting that championed change in his community.”

Davis’s commentary reveals realities of low literacy

In her piece, Irene Davis wrote an impassioned account of her more than 15 years as a volunteer literacy tutor at the Toronto Public Library Adult Literacy Program. “Ms. Davis not only speaks from the heart about her rewarding experiences as a tutor, but she also conveys the nuts-and-bolts realities about how improving literacy transforms people’s lives,” says Jim Pollock, Director of Communications, ABC CANADA. As Ms. Davis wrote in her commentary: “When I began as a volunteer with the program, I had grand visions of opening the wide world of books to my learners, awakening a love for reading such as I had had since my father taught me to read when I was three years old. Instead, I found myself helping people learn to function: at home, in the supermarket, at work.” That ‘learning to function’ extends to activities that many adult Canadians take for granted: reading telephone messages; reading labels while grocery shopping; navigating around town with street signs; understanding what dosage to take as indicated on the medicine bottle; passing a driver’s test.

Aiken’s reporting champions change in Aboriginal community

In a series of articles and commentaries written for the Kenora papers, Mike Aiken addressed the social realities of Native people, where literacy and numeracy challenges play a pivotal role; upbraided or congratulated, as the case may be, the actions of politicians and policy-makers; and chronicled the successes of a community overcoming unique barriers. One among many of the stories he covered was the remarkable success of Mount Carmel Separate School, where some much warranted attention and investment in its student population (of which 95 per cent is Aboriginal) resulted in vast improvements in reading, writing and math skills under the Ontario Government’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessments. Mount Carmel was one of more than 100 schools across the province selected as “turn-around schools” that received funding to improve literacy and numeracy skills. Consequently, grade 3 and 6 results have shown significant improvement. In 2004-2005, for example, 68 per cent of grade 3 students met or exceeded the provincial standards in reading and math – a whopping 58-per-cent increase from 2002-2003 when only 10 per cent passed the tests.

“Mr. Aiken’s research-driven reporting has served to keep social and literacy issues front-and-centre, both educating the public and championing changes that result in building literacy in the community,” says ABC CANADA’s Pollock.

Award donations to literacy efforts

In accepting the awards, Aiken and Davis received a personalized Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit plaque. In addition, ABC CANADA will donate, in the writers’ names, $1,000 to Mount Carmel Separate School (Aiken) and $1,000 to the Toronto Public Library Adult Literacy Program (Davis).

To read the PGLAM winners’ work, click here (PDF - 1MB).

Recipients Mike Aiken and Irene Davis with ABC CANADA President Margaret Eaton
(PHOTO CREDIT Stephanie Lake)
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Recipients Irene Davis and Mike Aiken with (from left) ABC CANADA President Margaret Eaton and Alison Gzowski
(PHOTO CREDIT Stephanie Lake)
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About Mike Aiken

Mike Aiken, reporter for the Kenora Daily Miner & News and the Lake of the Woods Enterprise, receives the Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit this year for his ongoing coverage of social and literacy issues in the Kenora, Ontario-area Aboriginal community. Through his regular political and social reporting and in his commentaries in “Mike’s Musings,” Mr. Aiken has, variously, addressed the social realities of Native people, where literacy and numeracy challenges play a pivotal role; upbraided or congratulated, as the case may be, the actions of politicians and policy-makers; and chronicled the successes of a community overcoming unique barriers. He is – as one member of the judging panel put it – a “reporter’s reporter,” revealing a passion and a dogged determination that seems boundless. And always, he is championing literacy.

One among many of the stories he covered was the remarkable success of Mount Carmel Separate School, where some much warranted attention and investment in its student population (of which 95 per cent is Aboriginal) resulted in vast improvements in reading, writing and math skills under the Ontario Government’s Education and Quality Assurance Office (EQAO) assessments.

A Carleton University grad whose first journalism post was at the Eganville Leader covering the education beat and town council meetings in the Ottawa Valley, Mr. Aiken concedes, with humility, that his Kenora writing has played a role in some of the community’s successes. “I hope [my writing] was supportive and shed some light on how investments [in literacy] can really pay off.”

“It’s an honour and a privilege to be associated with Peter Gzowski’s legacy,” he adds. “It’s very rewarding to get that kind of recognition.”

About Irene Davis

“My father taught me to read when I was three. He bought me a desk and filled me with books. Books have been a huge part of my life – and that of my kids and grandkids,” says Toronto-based freelancer Irene Davis, recipient of the 2006 Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit (PGLAM). In “Literacy opens a brighter world,” her commentary in the November 22, 2005 Facts & Arguments section of The Globe and Mail, Ms. Davis reflects on her more than 15 years volunteering as a tutor at the Toronto Public Library Adult Literacy Program. It is an impassioned account of individuals transforming their lives, doubtless a revelation to many readers who would be unfamiliar with the reality of low literacy, and a compelling argument for becoming a volunteer tutor.

As Ms. Davis recounts in her piece: “When I began as a volunteer with the program, I had grand visions of opening the wide world of books to my learners, awakening a love for reading such as I had had since my father taught me to read when I was three years old. Instead, I found myself helping people learn to function: at home, in the supermarket, at work.” Just as she came to a realization of what literacy truly means to these people, so too do readers of her article.

For this freelancer whose work has appeared in major newspapers and publications such as the Metropolitan Toronto Business Journal, Maturity, Good Times and Today’s Seniors, this was the first time she had written about literacy (“seems I needed to get that out of my system,” she says). The literacy community is better off for her having done so.

About the Peter Gzowski Literacy Award of Merit

Journalists may submit their own work, or nominate the work of a fellow journalist. In the case of those nominating other people’s work, the entries must be submitted with the knowledge and consent of the journalist. Others who may nominate include an employer, a colleague, industry-related association representatives, an ABC CANADA Board or Committee member, regional literacy coalitions or networks, national literacy organizations or anyone employed in, or working with, the Canadian literacy field. The award is presented on merit and is not necessarily presented every year.

Past recipients are: Sean Fine, 2005 (The Globe and Mail); Paul-Émile Cormier, 2004 (Journal l’Étoile, New Brunswick); Alan White, 2003 (Telegraph-Journal, New Brunswick); Joel Jacobson, 2002 (Halifax Herald); Peter Calamai, 1996 (Toronto Star); and Denise Donlon,1993 (MuchMusic).