Working Draft Wins Four JHM Awards

Working Draft contributors came away with three Golds and one Bronze at the John H. McDonald (JHM) Awards for Excellence in Student Journalism presented by Canadian University Press (CUP), a national umbrella organization for campus journalism.

The winners were announced at an event on February 14, 2026. This is the first time Working Draft has been recognized at these awards. See a full list of shortlisted articles on their website.

Here are the winning articles from Working Draft:

Gold — Arts & Culture Award: “Scaring Frogs, Saving Culture” by Alex Lambert

Hundreds of frogs were entered into the 1976 edition of the St-Pierre-Jolys Frog Follies and Agricultural Fair, known by locals as simply the Frog Follies — or more in character for the mainly French-speaking village of roughly 1,300 people, the “Folies grenouilles.” The fair has acted as a mainstay in St-Pierre-Jolys, Man. (St. Pierre) since it started in 1970 with a visit by Queen Elizabeth II. Every year, the festival is filled with singers and performers, a parade, and frog jumping.  

Gold — Indigenous Reporting Award: “Pushing Through Prejudice” by Josh Lakatos

Like many other Indigenous people, I have a complicated relationship with the education system. Racism, underfunding, and the legacy of residential schools make it harder for Indigenous students to graduate from high school and post-secondary, but innovative solutions can change this. This is how one Indigenous person and one Indigenous community has navigated the education system through three decades.

Gold — Sports Reporting Award: “Breaking the Ice” by Brielle Campbell

Mixed gender teams aren’t as inclusive as they seem, especially at the Paralympic level. Alyssa White dreams of playing para hockey in the Paralympics for an official Canadian women’s team, but right now that team doesn’t exist. 

Bronze — Sports Reporting Award: “A Chance to Dream” by Sofia Peralta-Baron

Many young Canadians dream of becoming professional hockey players — a dream that women and girls were excluded from until the inaugural season of the PWHL, a league that finally provided female players a livable wage. How has the reality of a professional women’s hockey league impacted elite female players? For Manitoba’s Katie Tabin, it changed everything — and the effects are rippling out to younger women and girls across the province. 

Congratulations to all the winners!