Canadian Press reporter Mike Blanchfield wins James Travers Fellowship
Canadian Press reporter Mike Blanchfield has won the James Travers fellowship, an $25,000 international reporting grant that will allow him to probe the human cost of cluster bombs worldwide.
Canadian Press reporter Mike Blanchfield has won the James Travers fellowship, an $25,000 international reporting grant that will allow him to probe the human cost of cluster bombs worldwide.
This is the second time the R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship has been awarded. It's designed to encourage Canadian journalists to report on key global stories.
Blanchfield, who currently covers international affairs for The Canadian Press in Ottawa, plans to use the fellowship to investigate the impact the so-called bomblets are having in dormant war zones and will produce a multimedia package of stories assessing Canada's role in an international effort to have cluster bombs banned. His fellowship project will take him to Cambodia, Laos, Geneva and Washington, D.C.
"This is a great honour for Mike and we are very proud of him," said Canadian Press Editor-In-Chief Scott White. "He's a journalist who is committed to digging into complex and serious issues. The Travers Fellowship is a wonderful opportunity for Mike to do just that."
During his career, James Travers was a foreign correspondent, editor of the Ottawa Citizen, and executive editor of the Toronto Star. At the time of his death on March 3, 2011 he was an award-winning Ottawa columnist for the Star.
Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.