Globe and Mail reporter Jessica Leeder.Melissa Tait
Globe and Mail reporter Jessica Leeder won a gold medal at the Atlantic Journalism Awards in Halifax on Saturday night for a project about Canadian veterans.
Ms. Leeder, who has been The Globe’s Atlantic bureau chief since 2017, won in the category of Enterprise Reporting: Newspaper for her investigative project, Cut Off. The story looked at changes in the funding of medical marijuana by Veterans Affairs Canada and the effects on veterans using cannabis to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.
In her application, Ms. Leeder wrote that the story “began with a whisper uttered over a Dartmouth hotel restaurant table,” including mention of a man who died by suicide because of the funding cuts.
“I began following an almost non-existent trail to figure out what was actually happening, why it was happening and who was responsible,” she wrote.
Ms. Leeder interviewed more than a dozen veterans for the story, which ran in May, 2018. The other finalists in the category were Katrina Clarke of The Daily Gleaner in Fredericton for a project about investigations into teacher misconduct; and Mike Landry of the Telegraph-Journal in Saint John for a series about the police use of “restraint chairs” on youth.
The Atlantic Journalism Awards honour work done in print, radio, television and online in Atlantic Canada. Ms. Leeder’s story was among 350 entries to this year’s awards.
Ms. Leeder, who is based in Halifax, has worked in journalism for nearly two decades and has been with The Globe for a total of 12 years, including reporting from bureaus in Kandahar and Haiti. Her previous awards include a National Newspaper Award and an Emmy.
Jana G. Pruden