Education reporter Janet Steffenhagen and Momoko Price, a former writer with the University of British Columbia’s student newspaper, have won the 2006 Awards for Excellence in Education Journalism, presented by CAUT.

The Vancouver Sun-based Steffenhagen received the award in the professional media category for her investigative reporting on the flawed regulation of British Columbia’s private post-secondary institutions. A graduate of Carleton University, Steffenhagen worked for the Canadian Press and Saskatchewan’s Star Phoenix before joining the Sun’s staff in 1997.

Price, now a graduate student at the University of Toronto, won in the student category for her article “Whitey don’t see that,” which appeared in the Ubyssey.

The awards were presented at CAUT’s Council meeting on April 28 in Ottawa.

CAUT established the awards programme in 2001 to recognize and encourage excellence in coverage of post-secondary education topics in both the professional and student media.

Nominations are submitted by academic staff associations, media organizations and other interested parties. Entries are judged by a jury of journalism faculty on the basis of relevance, originality, quality of investigation and research, potential impact on policy makers and the fulfilment of professional standards of journalism. Each award is worth $1,000.