Prizewinning Wordsmith Rhiannon Russell

TORONTO — An in-depth magazine feature about the fortunes and misfortunes of Research In Motion (RIM) by 21-year-old journalist Rhiannon Russell won the 2012 Rolf Lockwood Award for Business Journalism.

Every year, Newcom Business Media — which produces this website as well as six magazines, their attendant websites and Canada’s biggest truck shows — presents an outstanding Ryerson University journalism student with a $1,000 bursary named after Rolf Lockwood, the company’s founding editor and current Vice President Editorial.

Newcom President Jim Glionna launched the prize after Lockwood won the Canadian Business Press’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. By providing the bursary, Glionna says, “Not only does Newcom talk about quality journalism, we put our money where our mouth is.”

The prize goes to a Ryerson student who, in his or her third year, produces an exemplary piece of magazine business journalism. Today’s Trucking Editor Peter Carter presented Russell with the prize at an awards ceremony Tuesday evening at the university.

At that time, Russell told Carter that her work on the RIM story whetted her appetite for high-quality business journalism. And that, Carter says, “is exactly why we present this prize. To get young people fired up about business writing.”

Russell also scored a second academic/financial coup at the ceremony by winning a second bursary for excellence in legal reporting.
If you want to learn more about Russell, check out her blog here. 

Newcom produces Today’s Trucking, Transport Routier, Plumbing&HVAC, Canadian Technician, Canadian Car Owner and Truck And Trailer magazines. Newcom also owns Truck World and ExpoCam.