RSJ Student selected for CBC's Joan Donaldson Scholarship

A Ryerson School of Journalism student has been offered the prestigious 2019 Joan Donaldson CBC News Scholarship.

Fourth-year student Margaret Macintosh is among eight aspiring journalists (external link)  from across the country who will join the CBC team for 16 weeks starting later this spring.

“I’m ecstatic to be among the young journalists who will be working at the CBC this summer. And I’m honoured to be a recipient of an award named after Donaldson, an esteemed journalist at CBC who also taught broadcast journalism at Ryerson,” Macintosh said.

The scholarship is separated into three sessions. Recipients spend two sessions (10 weeks) in Toronto and one session (five weeks) at another CBC bureau in Canada. Macintosh will be producing radio stories for bureaus across the country, spending five weeks in the local Calgary newsroom and the last stretch will be in Toronto's investigative unit.

The Ryerson School of Journalism’s internship co-ordinator and liaison with the CBC, professor Jagg Carr-Locke, oversees students’ applications for the Donaldson Scholarship.

“We’re thrilled for Maggie. It’s a competitive award attracting the best journalism students from across the country and our Maggie impressed,” Carr-Locke said.

She also said that Macintosh has pursued journalism since she was young.

“Maggie has loved journalism since she was a child and delivered the newspaper. She’s pursued our program, but also sought opportunities outside of our program to deepen her skillset and journalistic development.”

Throughout her undergrad years, Macintosh applied for every RSJ award she was eligible and worked multiple jobs in the summers to afford her internship at the Winnipeg Free Press.

“I flew to Winnipeg to work in my first real newsroom as a general assignment intern over the holidays, reporting in -40 C and turning around stories on tight deadlines,” Macintosh said. “I later returned to the Winnipeg Free Press as a summer intern.”

This experience was important for her  Donaldson application.

“All the hours spent working on school assignments, story pitches and in non-journalism jobs to save up to do a reporting internship in another province to gain experience were more than worth it.”

In the last four years at Ryerson, Macintosh devoted her time to learning the basics of reporting and writing for print and online. She wants to apply these skills to radio and TV reporting during her time at CBC.

“Being a journalist today often means being a multi platform journalist,” Macintosh said. “I hope that by the end of this scholarship, I’ll feel confident reporting for all three platforms: online, radio and TV.”

She also wants to improve her investigative journalism skills and and looks forward to reporting for a national audience at CBC.

“I want to learn how to produce stories that interest Canadians from coast to coast.”

For current RSJ students who plan to apply for the Donaldson, Macintosh says success in the application process comes down to preparation.

“You need to work hard to keep your grades up, gain experience in multiplatform reporting and be an avid CBC News consumer,” she said.

“I’ve also learned that social intelligence is an important character strength for journalists. Bylines are important, but so are personable interviewing skills. We learn how to hone the craft of conducting interviews, but we also need to learn how to be interview subjects.”