The Coast in Halifax has been named as the recipient of the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Excellence in Journalism Award in the small media category:

The Coast‘s submission included stories about two women who were relentlessly harassed and the failure of the justice system, even after the tragedy of the Rehtaeh Parsons case (the Halifax high school student who was cyberbullied to suicide in 2013 after a photograph of her rape was shared among her classmates), which thrust Nova Scotia into a central role in the efforts to legislate against a new form of sex crime.

“The topic of cyberbullying could not be more topical, but it is also one rife with inaccuracies and misinformation,” says Antonia Maioni, a professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill University’s Institute for Health and Social Policy and a member of the jury. “The Coast uses its deep local connections in Nova Scotia to bring accuracy and thoroughness to its research, and in so doing reveal the underreported stories of stalker victims — bringing their voices out clearly and credibly in a very noisy and messy news environment.”