Sheridan Journalism students join top news organizations as finalists for international prize

Last week, the Global Editors Network (GEN) announced the 75 finalists for the prestigious Data Journalism Awards 2014.  Among the finalists are well-known news organizations including The New York Times, Mother Jones, The Tampa Bay Times, and ProPublica.  Joining these notable names is a group of second-year broadcast journalism students from Sheridan, nominated for their class project, Digitally Dependent Relationships: Gen Y Online (ddrgenyonline.com).  This multimedia project explores the impact of ubiquitous digital communications on Generation Y.

"Things have changed. No longer are our personal lives limited by distance, time, or space. This is the world of Generation Y. Society is so greatly affected by the emergence of digital communication that it has changed the basic way humans interact," according to the project’s introduction.  Through graphics, video, statistics and narrative, the project explores millennial relationships through the themes of the Blurred Lines between social life and online personas, Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places, the Naked Issues of sexting and porn, Digital Judgment, and the Future of online communication.

Sixteen students collaborated on the project as part of the coursework for their Online News Production class.  Professor Nicole Blanchett-Neheli describes their work as “one of the best student projects I’ve had the pleasure of supervising.”  The project was completed during the third semester of the two-year Broadcast Journalism program.

The winners of the Data Journalism Awards will be announced on June 12 at the GEN Summit taking place in Barcelona, Spain.

The Global Editors Network is a cross-platform community committed to sustainable, high-quality journalism, empowering newsrooms through a variety of programmes designed to inspire, connect and share. The GEN Board Members support this mission and have signed the GEN Manifesto.

About Sheridan 
Sheridan is one of Canada’s leading postsecondary institutions, offering over 100 diploma, certificate, and bachelor degree programs in an environment that fosters innovation and creativity. Its aim is to become Ontario’s first university exclusively dedicated to undergraduate professional education – one that will be based on applied learning. The model also focuses on meeting university accreditation requirements so that Sheridan graduates have more pathways to the continued learning that will underscore their personal, career, and industry success.