Free Press reporters nominated for national data journalism award

Two Free Press reporters have been nominated for a Canadian Association of Journalists award for their deep dive into Winnipeg’s transit overhaul last summer.

Julia-Simone Rutgers and Malak Abas were recognized in the data journalism category for Overhaul upheaval: Transit overhaul created significant gaps in service, hitting low-income areas and bus-dependent populations hardest.

The feature analyzed the major route changes for Winnipeg bus riders using maps and graphics to help tell the story.

Rutgers and Abas will go up against nominees from Radio-Canada, the Edmonton Journal/MacEwan University and Canada’s National Observer.

The nominees were announced Tuesday from a record 561 submissions.

Two winners will be announced in each of the 20 categories: gold and silver, with the gold winner receiving a monetary prize.

The award winners will be announced June 13 at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communications.

The work by Rutgers and Abas has also been named a finalist for the U.S.-based Institute for Nonprofit News awards, in the community champion category. The award honours journalism-centred projects that make a significant contribution to the well-being of a community. The Institute for Nonprofit News is an international body that advocates for investigative public service journalism.

“These nominations are further recognition of our commitment to deliver outstanding journalism to our readers,” Free Press editor Paul Samyn said. “I am delighted the judges recognized the strength of the reporting Julia-Simone and Malak produced.”

Rutgers is also a finalist in the institute’s explanatory category for her January 2025 story that examined how American tariffs would negatively impact agricultural producers on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

Rutgers writes jointly for the Free Press and the Narwhal on environmental topics through a unique partnership funded by the Winnipeg Foundation.

Her work was also recently honoured by the Society of Environmental Journalists, which awarded her second place in the feature category for her on-the-ground reporting on the devastating impacts of hydro dam flooding of Indigenous communities in northern Manitoba.

Meanwhile, Free Press reporters are finalists in five National Newspaper Awards categories, which will be awarded Friday evening in Toronto.