Young Canadian Journalists to China

BRUSSELS — Three young Canadian journalists are heading to China. Justin Fauteux of Oakville, Ontario, Erin Meagher of Mississauga, Ontario and Kelsey Wingerak of West Kelowna, BC, were selected as the North American representatives for the International University Sports Federation (FISU) young sports journalist program for the 26th FISU Summer Universiade to be held in Shenzhen, China this August.

The Summer Universiade brings together the top university athletes from around the world in an Olympic-style multi-sport event, with competitors representing their countries in such sports as basketball, soccer, track and field and volleyball.

2011 marks the inaugural year for the FISU Young Sports Journalist Seminar and provides the opportunity for student, and young professional, sports reporters to receive training from International Sports Press Association (AIPS) professionals, while gaining experience covering the Universiade’s events. Two representatives from each continent, one male, one female, were chosen to take part in the program and in North America it was a Canadian sweep.

Kelsey Wingerak

Wingerak, who is entering her fourth year in the Ryerson University (Toronto) Journalism program, found the third year of the program to be undoubtedly her highlight because she was immersed in reporting sports. Kelsey has worked for Ryerson Sports & Recreation for two years as an on-camera sports reporter, editor, producer and a camera operator.  Reporting for the Ryerson Rams Network gave her the most hands-on experience and the greatest enjoyment in covering sporting events. She has covered everything from the IDFA World Bodybuilding Championships to the Canadian Men’s Indoor Field  Hockey Team and their pursuit to the World Cup.

Fauteux, a fourth-year communication studies and English major from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario will enter the program with three years of sports journalism under his belt, working for WLU’s newspaper The Cord. After spending a year as a staff writer in The Cord’s sports section, Fauteux became Sports Editor in 2009 and worked in that position for two years, winning the Canadian University Press (CUP) John H. MacDonald Award for Excellence in Student Journalism in the sports writing category in 2011. Fauteux has since been hired as the CUP Sports Bureau Chief.

“I still can’t believe I was selected for this program,” said Fauteux. “I’m just counting down the days until we arrive in China, the experience of covering such a huge event and working with other young journalists will be just incredible.”

Erin Meagher

Meagher, meanwhile, is a fourth-year student at the University of King’s College, which is a liberal arts school affiliated with Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Along with working for Dalhousie Athletics, Meagher has volunteered with the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, been published on NHL.com and worked as a student reporter at the 2011 Canada Games.

“I am extremely happy to have been selected for the YSJS and can’t wait to work with all of the other young journalists and mentors from across the globe,” said Meagher.

Joining Meagher, Fauteux and Wingerak will be 10 representatives from the other five continents. The African journalists will be Sene Diacounda of Senegal and Komugisha Usher of Uganda, while Brazilian Everton Ferreira de Melo and Costa Rican Natasha Campos Mendez will represent South/Central America. The Asian representatives will be Tirtha Kumar Sarma of India and Enkhnaran Jargalsaikhan of Mongolia, the European contingent will consist of Nicole Torregrossa of Germany and Sonja Nikčević of Serbia and Oceania will be represented by Australian Dominick Czakilew and Christian Colin V. Cruz of the Northern Mariana Islands.

In addition, the Shenzhen Organizing Committee will invite 30 young Chinese journalists to take part in the program, while AIPS will select 20 international participants.

The Summer Universiade will run from Aug. 12-25th and will involve approximately 13,000 athletes and officials from 153 countries.

Canada was represented at the Young Sports Journalists seminar for the 2011 FISU Winter Games at Erzurum, Turkey. Again two budding sports journalists were selected from Canada. You can see their Blogs written for this website on the What’s Happening page.

The next FISU Winter Games are slated for Marbor, Slovakia in 2013 with the Summer Games that year in Kazan, Russia.  The set of Games following will be in 2015 with winter events in Granada, Spain and Summer Games in Kwanju, Korea.