Ветеран журналист Том Зытарук удостоен премии за пожизненные достижения от фонда Джека Уэбстера

Surrey journalist Zytaruk given lifetime achievement award by Jack Webster Foundation Published 9:53 am Thursday, August 13, 2026 Veteran Surrey Now-Leader journalist Tom Zytaruk is among three Jack Webster Foundation award-winners for 2026. At a fall gala dinner he’ll be given the 2026 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award for his 35 years of award-winning work for the Surrey news outlet, a Black Press Media publication. Two other Webster Awards winners this year are investigative reporter Negar Mojtahedi (Bill Good Award recipient) and CBC producer Anne Penman (Shelley Fralic Award). During his long journalism career, Zytaruk has received more than 30 North American, national and provincial writing awards in categories including outstanding columnist, best opinion writing, outstanding reporter initiative and best election coverage. Zytaruk is well known for his court and crime reporting. “His list of contacts has been noted as ‘second to none,’ and his colleagues have recognized him as a tenacious journalist and valued mentor,” Jack Webster Foundation notes in a news release. “Tom has authored two books, one of them a B.C. bestseller. According to B.C. BookWorld, ‘Few B.C. books, if any, have ever generated such a national stir prior to publication as much as Tom Zytaruk’s Like a Rock: The Chuck Cadman Story.’ Both the City of Surrey and Corporation of Delta have named Tom a Friend of Heritage.” Zytaruk says he’s thrilled to receive the lifetime achievement award. “I’m still trying to process it. Wow!” he texted Wednesday (Aug. 12) while on vacation. In 2021 he wrote an illuminating column about his 30th anniversary in journalism. “I suspect one or two of my stories were taped to refrigerator doors, while thousands more were used to line the bottom of pet cages,” he wrote. “Strangers bought me drinks at a bar as Liberal and Tory MPs yelled at one another in the House of Commons, on television screens across Canada, because of something I’d brought to light. “A sitting prime minister called me at my desk from his office in Ottawa, and a premier drove me around Newton in my own car. It looked like a giraffe had been stuffed behind the wheel of my little bucket of a Ford Escort, while I scribbled down his quotes from the passenger seat. I tumbled after police, as they chased down the hallway of a Whalley apartment building, following a blood trail, in hot pursuit of a guy with a knife. This was during one of those ride-alongs that don’t happen anymore.” The Jack Webster Foundation was established in 1986 after the retirement of its namesake, among Canada’s best-known and most influential reporters, “in order to foster and celebrate excellence in journalism, protect the public interest for British Columbians, and create a community where trusted outstanding journalism thrives.” This year’s Webster Awards will be held Nov. 2 at Hyatt Regency Vancouver.