On October 19, 2018, following the death of Concordia University professor and author Linda Kay on October 12 of that year, there was a one-page obituary by Lisa Fitterman on page 18 of the Globe and Mail. It documented her award winning career as a journalist and professor as well as noting the book she wrote about the founders of the Canadian Women’s Press Club, called The Sweet Sixteen.
In 2020 Media Club member Shirley Van Dusen received two awards – one from the Ottawa School of Art where she taught for many years and the other from the City of Ottawa.
An article by Susan Korah for online newspaper, New Canadian Media, was the second most read one on that website, earning her an unexpected cash award. Her article, entitled Child Marriage Serious Issue in Canada – Not Exclusive to Immigrants, appeared in the October 2020 issue.
In June 2020 Courtney Tower’s column in community newspaper, Vistas, featured frequent Media Club attendee, author Qais Ghanem.
In 2021 the COVID-19 anthology, called COVID-19 Chronicles: Reflections on the Pandemic, that was co-published in 2020 by our club and the Ottawa Ethnic Media Forum, won first prize for the best publication in the Print category in a contest run by the Canadian Ethnic Media Association.
On November 15, 2021 Shirley Van Dusen was profiled by Joel Haslem on CTV’s 6p.m. newscast. It centred around her rediscovering some old preliminary sketches she had made of John Diefenbaker prior to painting his portrait many years ago. You can likely still watch the interview by googling CTV News – Ottawa artist Discovers Forgotten Sketches of a Former PM.
The biography of Olive Dickason, called Changing Canadian History: The Life and Works of Olive Patricia Dickason, was published in October 2021. It was written by Darren Préfontaine, editor, researcher and author at the Gabriel Dumont Institute’s Métis Cultural and Heritage Department, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The 445-page book can be bought online from the Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI) at https://gdis./org/@shop-gdi, or by phoning the institute’s order desk at 1-306-657-5715.
Courtney Tower’s column in the April 2021 issue of community newspaper, Vistas, featured June Coxon.
Helen Bednarek Van Eyk met the then Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall on May 19, 2022 when they did a walk about at Ottawa’s Ukrainian Cathedral. Helen said “it was delightful” and that she received a souvenir platinum crown pin inscribed with “E 11 R 70”, marking then Queen Elizabeth’s 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne.
Lorraine Lafreniere, CEO, Coaching Association of Canada, was interviewed by CBC radio on June 28, 2023, as part of a story about sex in high school sports. Lorraine was president of the Media Club of Canada from 1991-2001.
An obituary in the December 3, 2023 issue of the Ottawa Citizen announced the death of Anne McDougall, a Media Club of Ottawa member for many years. It noted that she was born November 23, 1922, that she died at Ottawa’s Montfort Hospital and that most of her life’s work was in communications. When Iris ten Holder and I visited Anne in 2019 at her residence, The Edinburgh, she showed us a copy of the book she wrote about her aunt in 1977, called Anne Savage: The Story of a Canadian Painter.
Catina Noble published a young adult book on July 8, 2023. It was previouslyAugust 2 published as three separate novels but has been rebranded as a trilogy with all three stories in one book called Teal, Teal Flint. It’s available from Amazon where it is on the best seller list in the Teen category. An e-book was released . Her book can also be purchased at Novel Idea Bookstore, 150 Princess Street, Kingston, Ontario.
The last book in the COVID-19 trilogy co-produced by the Media Club of Ottawa and the Ottawa Ethnic Media Forum (OEMF), called COVID-19 Chronicles Part 3: Media and the COVID, was launched July 29, 2023, at Kochin Kitchen restaurant, in Ottawa’s downtown market area. Organized by Jagjeet Sharma of the OEMF, it was attended by a number of authors who contributed items for the book and their friends, including Media Club representatives Iris ten Holder and Denise Ann Boissoneau.