Mr. Garth Pritchard – 2003 Ross Munro Media Award Recipient
16 October 2003
The Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) is pleased to announce that Garth Pritchard has been selected as the recipient of the Ross Munro Media Award for 2003. Out of the large and excellent list of nominees, the selection committee has also concluded that Matthew Fisher, of Global National and CanWest News, and Robert Roy, of Stornoway Productions, are deserving of honourable mention.
Mr. Garth Pritchard, a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, has over the years produced some outstanding work on the activities of the Canadian military. He has reported on Canadian defence issues from such places as Somalia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, and his work clearly shows how he has earned the respect of the members of the Canadian Forces. In 2002, in Afghanistan during Operation Apollo, Mr. Pritchard gained special access to 3PPCLI Battle Group for a period of three months, recording never-before-seen events and accumulating stunning first-hand accounts and images of the war on terrorism. This emotion-laden series comprises Chasing Shadows, Waging Peace, and the very powerful and moving Friendly Fire and offers an exclusive look inside Canada’s military and the harsh impact of war. Chasing Shadows and Friendly Fire first aired on History Television on Remembrance Day last year, and Waging Peace, which aired with the other two in its debut on the same network in January 2003.
The Ross Munro Media Award was initiated, in 2002, by the Conference of Defence Associations, in concert with the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI). Its purpose is to recognize, annually, one Canadian journalist who has made a significant and outstanding contribution to the understanding, by the general public, of Canada’s defence and security issues. A recipient of this award has produced outstanding work on the efforts, for public consumption, of the Canadian Armed Forces in preserving Canadian democratic values.
The Ross Munro Media Award selection committee was composed of Lieutenant-General Richard J. Evraire, CMM, CD, Ret’d, Chairman of the Conference of Defence Associations; Mr. Peter Kent, President of the Canadian War Correspondents Associations; Lieutenant-Colonel
Bob Lockhart, Ret’d; Mr. Stuart Robertson, of O’Donnell, Robertson & Sanfilippo.
Remarks – Lieutenant-General (Retired) Richard Evraire, Chairman CDA