Toronto Star business reporter Ana Pereira has been awarded the 34th annual Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prize.
The prize is awarded for outstanding daily newspaper work by a young Canadian journalist aged 20 to 25. Winners are chosen by News Media Canada, the national association of Canada’s news media industry and the award is sponsored by the estate of the late Arthur G. Penny, a former editor with the Quebec Chronicle.
“I am honoured to receive this incredible recognition by News Media Canada,” Pereira said after the announcement Wednesday night.
“I’d like to thank my editors and colleagues at the Star for supporting me with the best tools and mentorship a young journalist could ask for, and I’m excited to continue reporting on what matters most to consumers and workers living in the GTA and beyond.”
A press release from News Media Canada says the award’s judges were impressed by Pereira’s portfolio of work.
Included in Pereira’s submission was a story about a decision by the Canada Pension Plan investment board to make a $300 million move to a new office; an explainer on the employment market showing where jobs were lost and gained; a short feature on the seven “supertall” skyscrapers promising to radically change Toronto’s skyline; and a piece about the Torontonians who rented their homes out to cash in on the mania during Taylor Swift’s six night stop in the city.
“Ana is disciplined, smart and a collegial team player,” said Duncan Hood, senior editor, business and housing. “Despite her young age — and just a couple years of experience working as a journalist — Ana’s work is already on par with, perhaps even better than, the work of senior journalists with decades of experience.”
Before becoming a business reporter for the Star, Pereira spent a summer at the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business after a short stint at BNN Bloomberg and interning at the Star’s radio room.
Past Goff Penny Memorial Prize recipients from the Star include affordable housing reporter Victoria Gibson, crime reporter Jennifer Pagliaro, deputy editor of the investigative team Jesse McLean and former Washington bureau chief Daniel Dale.
