2006 Symons Medallist:

Mr. Mark Starowicz, producer and journalist

 

The Symons Lecture honours Professor Thomas H.B. Symons, a long-time supporter and board member of the Confederation Centre. Mark Starowicz’s lecture, called “Whose Story? Storytelling as Nationbuilding,” was presented in Homburg Theatre at Confederation Centre.

“The objective of the annual Symons Lecture is to encourage Canadians to think and talk about their country,” says H Wayne Hambly, Chair of the Board. “Mr. Starowicz’s contribution to journalism has transformed radio and television journalism in our country, and profoundly enriched the Canadian experience. We are pleased that he has accepted our invitation to give the 2006 Symons Lecture.”

Under Starowicz’s leadership, the CBC documentary production unit has produced influential current affairs programs and documentaries, including Hockey: A People’s History, a series about hockey in Canada now being broadcast on CBC-TV, and Canada: A People’s History, which first aired on CBC-TV from October 2000 to November 2001.

For his contribution to the performing arts in Canada, Starowicz received a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award during the 2006 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards on November 3. Spanning radio and television, Starowicz’s career includes the CBC Radio programs As It Happens and Sunday Morning, and CBC TV’s The Journal. He was also head of CBC TV’s documentary programming unit responsible for the prime-time series Witness, which won a Gemini Award for Best Documentary Series, and Life & Times. His six-hour history of television news, The Dawn of the Eye (1996), co-produced with the BBC, the American History Channel and A&E, was lauded by critics worldwide and is used in many journalism schools.

In print media, Starowicz was co-editor of the journalistic magazine The Last Post, and a reporter for The Montreal Gazette and The Toronto Star. He has published articles in The New York Times Magazine, The Globe and Mail, and TIME, and he lectures and writes internationally on television and public policy.