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The Media
Club
of Ottawa
Meetings are
held at Ottawa City Hall.
Mailing Address: Media Club of
Ottawa c/o Arbour House, 84 Bradford Street, Ottawa, ON, K2B 5Y8
Margaret Graham Award Background
The Margaret Graham award honours the memory of Margaret
“Miggsy” Graham, a young Ottawa reporter who, in 1904,
played a leading role in the formation of the Canadian Women’s
Press Club (CWPC), now the Media Club of Canada. Miggsy watched
as newspaper men but not women, got free trips to cover the World
Exposition in St. Louis for their newspapers. While working briefly in
Montreal for the Montreal Star, she persuaded Col. George Ham, then
publicist for the Canadian Pacific Railway, to provide women reporters
with the same free passes CPR gave the men. It was the first time women
and men journalists received free press passes from the Canadian
Pacific Railway. The trip was such a success that on the way home the
women formed the CWPC.
These Awards have been presented since 1976 when Linda Florence receive
the Margaret Graham Award for a story she wrote for the Kingston News.
The award was formally established in 1977 to be given to a top
journalism student from Carleton University and from Algonquin College
and the first awards were presented in January 1978. In 1992 the
program expanded to include a top student from the University of
Ottawa’s Communications Department. Nearly 100 students have
benefitted from the Margaret Graham Award since its inception 35 years
ago.
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Help
build the Media Club's
"Melba Lent Woelflé Scholarship Fund."
To contribute, phone Valerie Knowles at 722-4473 or e-mail
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