Alumni Awards

Who can nominate an alumni?

Anyone who knows a deserving FIMS alum and has information they can share is eligible to submit a nomination.

* Note that the awards committee does not notify people of their nomination prior to adjudicating the award.

What makes someone a good candidate for nomination?

We're interested in FIMS alumni who are making a positive difference in the world through their professional or personal work in media, information, community development and social justice, government, the arts, politics, and leadership. We will recognize many forms of achievement including within professional activities, community service, service to the university, social impact and innovation, or contributions to equity, diversity, inclusion and access in institutional and community contexts.

It doesn't matter what year the person graduated, or how professionally established they are; if they're making significant change out in the world or contributing something big to one of our related fields of study, we'd love to hear about it.

Who chooses the recipient?

An awards committee made up of current students, staff, faculty and FIMS alumni will collectively choose a winner from the pool of nominations.

When is the award recipient announced?

Recipients are typically announced in mid- or late-June. The formal presentation of alumni awards happens during Western's Homecoming celebrations.

For questions related to the FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence, contact:

For questions related to the FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence, please contact Susannah Gergich, FIMS Development Officer, at sgergic@uwo.ca. 

Anyone holding a degree from one of the following programs at Western counts as FIMS alumni!

• BA in Journalism
• BA in Media, Information and Technoculture (MIT)
• BA in Media and the Public Interest (MPI)
• BA in Media, Theory and Production (MTP)
• Master of Arts in Journalism (MAJ)
• Master of Media in Journalism and Communication (MMJC)
• Master of Library Science (MLS)
• Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)
• Master of Arts in Media Studies
• Master of Arts in Popular Music and Culture (PMC)
• Master of Health Information Science (MHIS)
• PhD in Library and Information Science
• PhD in Media Studies
• PhD in Health Information Science

This degree range encompasses students who graduated from either of FIMS' founding schools (LIS or Journalism) going back to the mid-1940s, right up until present day with students graduating under the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (founded in 1997).

You can also nominate a FIMS graduate for a Western Alumni Award of Merit. This award is adjudicated at the university level as opposed being an in-Faculty award. There are four distinct categories under which you can nominate someone. For full details, visit the Western Alumni Awards of Merit webpage.