2006 Eric Koreen

ERIC KOREEN

The 2006 recipient of Sports Media Canada’s student bursary is Eric Koreen of Ryerson University.

Eric Koreen

Eric Koreen

As a teenager, Eric Koreen abandoned his dream of following in the footsteps of Carlos Delgado. “I was definitely second tier,” Koreen, 21, recalls of his days at bat.

Instead, and with some hesitation, he followed in the footsteps of his older brother Mike, who, at 26, is a full-time NBA beat reporter for the Toronto Sun. “I didn’t want to invite comparisons,” he says, “but it just made too much sense.”

Since enrolling in Ryerson’s Bachelor of Journalism program three years ago and maintaining a grade-point average of 3.64, Koreen has immersed himself in sports journalism.

During the past three years, he has worked as an editorial assistant at Canadian Press where his work on the agate desk was rewarded with high-profile writing assignments.

In the spring of 2006, National Post Sports Editor Jim Bray hired Koreen for the expanded section’s rewrite desk. Since then, he’s gone well beyond the profile of his job position, landing a steady stream of bylines.

Says Bray: “Eric has already shown the type of initiative and ability to suggest he has a promising career ahead of him.”

Koreen hoped to complete his school internship with the Edmonton Journal in the winter of 2006-2007.