Zoom Meeting, April 16, 2020
For the first time since the award was introduced in 2008, a representative of the
Media Club was not able to present the Melba Lent Woelflé award to the winning student. Self-distancing required by the current world pandemic made that impossible. But on April 16, 2020 the journalism class at Algonquin College held a reunion/last class Zoom meet-up. During the meet-up second year journalism student Katelin Belliveau received the Media Club’s Melba Lent Woelflé award from professor Julie McCann.
Students taking part in the meet-up had not been to class since the college, like other schools and places where groups of people normally gather, because of COVID-19. Most students had returned home. so they logged in to the meet-up from as far away as New Brunswick. In addition to the MC award presentation students reported on their experiences as interns. Representing the Media Club at the Zoom meet-up, Iris ten Holder spoke with Julie McCann and Katelin Beliveau towards the end of the meeting.
The Award
For the past 13 years the award has been presented to an Algonquin College student who has completed the second semester in the journalism program and who demonstrated exceptional writing skills in their first year. Established in 2008 in memory of long-time devoted Media Club member Melba Lent Woelflé (1921-2003), it is administered by the Community Foundation of Ottawa, a non-profit organization that manages a variety of charitable funds in perpetuity. It is augmented by Media Club of Ottawa’s annual fund raisers and private donations by club members and friends. To make a tax deductible donation or bequest to your will, make a cheque out to the Melba Lent Woelflé Award Fund, and mail it to the Community Foundation of Ottawa, 75 Albert Street, Suite 301, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5E7