The MSU Canadian Studies Centre and Detroit Newspapers in Education (NIE) program were awarded first place for the 24-page supplement to the Detroit Free Press they co-published, “Canada and the United States: One Border, Many Challenges,” by the Newspaper Association of America Foundation.
The supplement, which was distributed to 100,000 students in 2005, received first place in the Newspapers in Education Original Curriculum category for newspapers with a daily circulation of over 200,000 copies. Competitors for the award included the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Instructional materials that accompanied the supplement were coordinated with the Michigan’s social studies standards. It focused on current issues in Canadian-U.S. relations as well as historical events shared by the two nations.
The award was presented to William Joyce, Deputy Director of Canadian Studies at MSU, and Jeanette Stump, of Detroit Newspapers in Education in association with the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, at the annual Young Reader Conference in St. Louis, Mo. in July. The Detroit NIE program also won third place in the general excellence category.
Joyce said that the award “provides encouraging evidence that the media are beginning to take Canada and its relations with the U.S. seriously and could enhance the position of Canadian studies in our school programs.”