Awarded by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), the Tara Singh Hayer Memorial Award recognises a Canadian journalist who, through his or her work, has made an important contribution to reinforcing and promoting the principle of freedom of the press in Canada or elsewhere. In 1999, the Canadian Press Freedom Award was re-named in honour of Tara Singh Hayer, a Canadian journalist and editor of the Vancouver-based Indo-Canadian Times, who was assassinated in November 1998. The award consists of a framed plaque and cash prize of CDN$3,000 (US$2,700).



The winner of the award will be a journalist who has:

1. highlighted cases of media repression in Canada or around the world;
2. chronicled attempts at or actual censorship;
3. worked involving difficult-to-obtain access to information requests;
4. taken personal risks or suffered physical reprisals for working as a journalist; or
5. overcome enormous odds simply to produce the news.

To be eligible for an award, applicants must be nominated by an organisation or individual. Self-nominations are not accepted. Nominations should include the following: a cover letter outlining how the
journalist or media organisation fulfils the stated criteria, biographical and
professional information on the nominee, samples of the nominee's work, and
contact details.



Submissions in French or English may be in the form of video tapes, audio tapes, articles or columns aired or published between July 1 2006 and June 20 2007.

The deadline for application is June 20 2007.

Click here for more information.

Click here to read about a previous winner.