UC magazine Canta wins 11 national press awards

University of Canterbury Students Association’s magazine Canta has taken out 11 awards as the national Aotearoa Student Press Association awards in Wellington.

University of Canterbury (UC) student Thomas Mead received two national awards – for Best Feature and Best Unpaid News Writer. He was also runner-up for the Best Series.

Mead plans to apply for the UC journalism course next year. UC is re-launching its journalism course, which was not offered in 2012 in the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes. The course, which began in the 1920s, has trained some of the country’s foremost journalists.

UC has appointed Tara Ross, a former journalist for The Press and The Sunday Star-Times, as the senior lecturer in journalism. Ross is a Qantas Award-winning reporter with a reputation for insight and depth of analysis in her reporting.

Awards judge Donna Chisholm said Canta’s entry covering how the university will manage the post-earthquake was the result of a lengthy investigation by Mead, who explained the university’s options in a clear but detached manner.

Canta editor Hannah Herchenbach said Mead was a an outstanding young writer.

``Thomas’s feature titled Under Pressure was the result of a huge amount of work. We are proud to have him in the team,” Herchenbach said today.

Canta won first place awards for Best Small Publication, Best Original Photography, Best Feature, Best Unpaid News Writer and Best Sports Writer, was runner-up in five categories and highly recommended in another.