On April 26, 2024, it was announced that the Climate Disaster Project had received a Special Recognition Citation at Canada’s 2023 National Newspaper Awards (NNA). Based at the University of Victoria, the project is an international collaboration between media outlets and journalism training programs intended to generate and publish an archive of first-person testimonies from climate disaster survivors created using a trauma-informed methodology. Asparagus has been a proud member of the project since 2022, including publishing a number of its first-person narratives as our Summer/Fall 2022 cover story. 

The NNA citation stated that the project was being recognized “for their teaching newsroom based out of the University of Victoria, their investigations into climate disasters, and their first-person accounts of survivors.”

Other partners recognized by the citation include Carleton University, the Campus Journalism Lab (Philippines), First Nations University of Canada, Humber College, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langara College, MacEwan University, Mount Royal University, Simon Fraser University, Toronto Metropolitan University, and the University of British Columbia, the University of the Fraser Valley, the University of Stirling, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Canada’s National Observer, The Fraser Valley Current, Megaphone street news, The Tyee, Neworld Theatre, the Reach Gallery, and the Royal BC Museum.

You can read all of the project narratives published by Asparagus on our dedicated Climate Disaster Project page.