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.


The winner of the award will be a journalist who fits one or more of the criteria:

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

The deadline for application has been extended to May 19 2008.

To be eligible for an award, applicants must be nominated by an organisation or individual. Self-nominations are not accepted. Nominations should include a cover letter outlining how the journalist or media organisation fulfils the stated criteria; and biographical and professional information on the nominee, along with 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 June 15 2007 and April 30 2008.


Click here for nomination form.

Click here for more information.

The award was given posthumously to Somali/Canadian journalist Ali Iman Sharmarke. Click here to read about this previous winner.