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SFU Newsmaker Awards
SFU Communications and Marketing is no longer accepting nominations for the SFU Newsmaker of the Year Awards. We are grateful to all university staff, students, faculty, alumni and members of the public who nominated candidates for excellence in media relations and online engagement in past years.
Questions? Email: mediarelations@sfu.ca
2024 Award Winners
Media Newsmaker of the Year
2024 - Andrey Pavlov, professor of finance
Newsmaker Lifetime Achievement Award
2024 - Brent Ward, professor of earth sciences
Emerging Thought Leader of the Year
2024 - Kaylee Byers, professor of health sciences
Previous award winners
2023 - James Horncastle, professor of international relations - Media Newsmaker of the Year
2023 - Robert Gordon, professor emeritus of criminology sciences - Newsmaker Lifetime Achievement Award
2023 - Aviva Philipp-Mueller, professor of marketing - Emerging Thought Leader Newsmaker of the Year
2022 - Darren Byler, professor of international studies - Media Newsmaker of the Year
2022 - John Clague, professor emeritus of earth sciences - Newsmaker Lifetime Achievement Award
2022 - Andy Yan, the City Program director - Social Media Newsmaker of the Year
2022 - Lara Aknin, professor of psychology - Emerging Thought Leader Newsmaker of the Year
2022 - Sharon Mah, faculty of health sciences communications manager - Strategic Communicator of the Year
2021 - Megan MacKenzie, professor of international studies - Media Newsmaker of the Year
2021 - Scott Lear, professor of health sciences - Social Media Newsmaker of the Year
2021 - Chloe Riley, SFU Library communications officer - Strategic Communicator of the Year
2021 - Julianne Piper, health sciences researcher - Emerging Thought Leader Newsmaker of the Year
2020 - Caroline Colijn and Kelley Lee, professors in science and health sciences - Media Newsmaker of the Year (shared award)
2020 - Laya Behbahani, lecturer, labour studies - Social Media Newsmaker of the Year
2020 - Katrina (Kat) Trinidad, director, student communication - Strategic Communicator of the Year
2020 - Julia Smith, research associate, health sciences - Emerging Thought Leader Newsmaker of the Year
2019 - Stewart Prest and Sanjay Jeram, SFU political science lecturers - Media Newsmaker of the Year (shared award)
2019 - Merran Smith, Clean Energy Canada SFU Fellow - Social Media Newsmaker of the Year
2019 - Rachel Bennett, marketing and communications director, SFU Lifelong Learning - Strategic Communicator of the Year
2019 - Fatemeh Torabi Asr, affiliated researcher, SFU’s Discourse Processing Lab - Emerging Thought Leader Newsmaker of the Year
2018 - Andy Yan, Director, City Program - Media Newsmaker of the Year
2018 - David Shiffman, postdoctoral fellow, biology - Social Media Newsmaker of the Year
2018 - Donna Dove, Student Services - Strategic Communicator of the Year
2017 - Paul Kingsbury, professor of geography - Media Newsmaker of the Year
2017 - Paola Ardiles, senior lecturer in health sciences - Social Media Newsmaker of the Year
2017 - Tia O’Grady, VP Reseach and International - Strategic Communicator of the Year
See previous winners of the Newsmaker Award
- 2013 - Ryan D’Arcy - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2013 - Marjorie Griffen Cohen - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations, Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2012 - Gordon Price - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2011 - Andre Gerolymatos - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations, Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2011 - Krzysztof (Kris) Starosta - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2010 - John Reynolds - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2009 - Doug McArthur - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations, Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2009 - Richard Smith - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2008 - Jon Kesselman - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2007 - Rob Gordon - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2006 - Mark Jaccard - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2005 - John Richards - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2004 - Barbara Mitchell - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2003 - Raymond Corrado - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2002 - Barry Beyerstein - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2002 - Gloria Gutman - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2001 - Gail Anderson - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2000 - Len Berggren - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 2000 - Lindsay Meredith - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations
- 1999 - Neil Boyd - SFU President’s Award for Service to the University through Public Affairs and Media Relations