Media

OTTAWA, October 18, 2011  —  The University of Ottawa is proud to announce the winners of its 2011 Excellence in Media Relations Awards. Pascale Fournier, vice-dean for research and associate professor at the Civil Law Section, is the Francophone winner, while Norman O’Reilly, professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences’ School of Human Kinetics, is the Anglophone winner. Each recipient also takes home a $5,000 prize.

Pascale Fournier teaches and specializes in areas such as comparative family law, Islam and Judaism in Europe and North America, constitutional law and freedom of religion, criminal law and cultural diversity and the relationship between multiculturalism, secularism and women’s rights. Given her expertise, she has been called on to comment on several topics of current interest in the media, including blood transfusions for Jehovah’s Witness children, the refusal of Hutterites to be photographed for driver’s licences and the issue of Muslim women testifying while veiled.

Norman O’Reilly is a real sports buff, with interests spanning the fields of sport business, marketing and finance, social marketing, sport participation, tourism marketing, as well as sponsorship and partnerships. Thanks to his expertise, he has worked closely with major media outlets in the country, including TSN, The Globe and Mail and CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada. He has also conducted several interviews in connection with the Jets’ return to Winnipeg and Quebec City’s project to build an arena and bring back the Nordiques.

The Excellence in Media Relations Awards are given annually to members of the University of Ottawa community who demonstrate outstanding service to the University by sharing their expertise with the larger community through the media. Each award comes with a $5,000 prize.

The University also thanks the members of the 2011 selection panel: Marie Reine Fournier from the program Le Monde selon Mathieu on Radio-Canada’s Première chaîne, Tom Spears of the Ottawa Citizen, Jonathan Blouin of the French-language daily Le Droit, Charlotte Bailey from the University of Ottawa’s English-language student newspaper, The Fulcrum, and Angie Bonenfant from the Téléjournal Ottawa-Gatineau on Radio-Canada.

View the full list of nominees for the 2011 Excellence in Media Relations Award.