Humber Journalism grads win gold medal for feature story on Uganda at COPA

Feb 8, 2021 | News

Two Humber Journalism grads won gold at the 2020 Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA) for their feature report on child abuse in Uganda on Thursday.

Harmony Multani and Lucy Lau, post-graduate certificate grads, packaged a video and print story called Pearl under pressure: The impact of violence against children in Uganda. The duo beat out two submissions from King’s College for the Best Video Content – Academic.

They trekked to Uganda with journalism professor Heather Kelly, joining a week-long mission by the Denmark Uganda Vietnam Exchange (DUVE), an international project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union that aims to end violence against children.

Humber Journalism grads Lucy Lau and Harmony Multani won gold at the 2020 Canadian Online Publishing Awards on Thursday for their report called Pearly Under Pressure: The Impact of Violence Against Children in Uganda.

Humber Journalism grads Lucy Lau and Harmony Multani won gold at the 2020 Canadian Online Publishing Awards on Thursday for their report called Pearly Under Pressure: The Impact of Violence Against Children in Uganda. Photo credit: Courtesy COPA

“I am honoured by the recognition our team has received from COPA, and want to congratulate the other reporters on their hard and incredible work,” Multani said.

“A special thanks to Humber and the University College PH Absolon, for creating this opportunity to tell the story of Uganda’s journey toward healing the widespread experience of childhood abuse,” she said.

Lau said she’s honoured by having their work recognized along with other “distinguished reporters, publications and stories from across Canada.

“I hope this award helps bring attention to the global issue of violence against children and the important work organizations like DUVE are doing to prevent it,” she said.

Multani said the project shows that journalism is a powerful tool that brings attention to stories that need to be told.

“I am hopeful that the recognition from COPA can support initiatives like the DUVE project by bringing a lens into these experiences faced by the children in Uganda,” she said.

“A special thanks to our Humber instructors who supported Harmony and I through this capstone project,” Lau said.