OK, so it’s an odd way to spend the first day off in months…in a room full of journos and their significant others…anyway, here’s the scoop:

I was there to support my wife, Catherine Harrop, who was awarded a silver medal in the Enterprise Reporting TV category. (You’ll recognize her as the host of Schoolzone on CBC TV’s NB Now. You may not realize she was behind the camera for many of the photo and video shoots featured here on justFRED)

CBC Fredericton picked up a new wall full of awards: Robert Jones for TV Spot News Reporting for ‘Reaching Atlantica’ (”When I saw I was up against orphaned baby seals, I thought I was in for a long night,” Jones said from the podium.), CBC Radio Fredericton for Continuing Radio Coverage of the McFitness story, Radio Feature Writing by Peter Anawati and Shawn Waters for ‘The Two Lives of Denise’ (”I’m loving it…” Waters said during one of his trips to the stage.), and Spot News Photojournalism Television awarded in a tie to CBC TV cameramen Denis Butler (Reaching Atlantica) and Roger Cosman (Blogger Trial).

CTV’s Mike Duffy provided an extemporaneous look into his career that included early slapdowns from powers-that-were advising the larger than life political pundit that his size and lack of golden tones were fatal barriers. Duffy says he overcame the barriers through hard work.

“I noticed that the guy who broke stories got on the air,” he said. And breaking stories, Duffy advised, means asking the key question: Why?

That approach, he said, turned a story about a routine housefire into a expose of the potential danger to thousands of homeowners through improperly installed aluminum wiring.

And he says there’s no cost to being polite, a policy he credits for the hundreds of insider tips the guy known as Mr. Parliament has shared with viewers over the years.

Finally, Fredericton Blogger Charles Leblanc may not have been in the audience, but he did show up on the bank of large screens in the main ballroom of the Halifax waterfront hotel where the award ceremony took place: after the Ninja moves of Saint John police officers, he was seen lying on his back as an officer ripped his digital camera from his hands.

Maybe next year there will even be a category that lets bloggers into the room in person.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca