Webby Worthy

From the mass farming of environmentally damaging crustaceans in Asia, to rampant clear-cuts and rapacious attitudes in eastern Russia, Cameroon and Indonesia, the UBC School of Journalism and its International Reporting Program (IRP) is again recognized by the Webby Awards in the ‘green category’ and what The New York Times calls “the internet’s highest honor”.

Focused on the global trade in illegal logging and by extension, deforestation, the destruction of bio-diversity and subsequent far-reaching economic and environmental effects and what is being done to combat them, the multi-media documentary CUT took a year to research, report and produce by UBC journalism students working in collaboration with students from the Centre for Digital Media.

Prior to the Webby, CUT received ‘gold’ from the Canadian Online Publishing Award (COPA) in 2013 for best video or multi-media feature. That same year the IRP web documentary The Pain Project received gold and silver awards from COPA. In 2011, the IRP project C heap Shrimp, Hidden Cost was nominated for a Webby, a COPA and an Online News Association Award.