The COPAs, now in its 5th year, is a snapshot of what is happening in Canada in digital content. The COPAs attract media players from the worlds of television, newspaper, magazine and digital, to see who is the Best in Canada. Some of the winners this year were schools and students. The UBC Graduate School of Journalism, for example, won two golds for its use of video and multimedia. The consumption of video/multimedia/interactive content on the web is growing and I thought it would be good to show where the bar is set in Canada with these COPA winners.

The PAIN project and CUT entries from the UBC students, through their creative use of video, links and animation, create a truly engaging reader experience—similar to playing an interactive video game, but still telling a strong story. The other Gold winner in the video and multimedia category was the The UC Observer for its documentary on homeless shelters. The CBC won Best Interactive Solution of the Year for an infographic used to illustrate its investigative report on offshore tax havens.
 
Let’s hear from the winners below.
 
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The Pain Project - Gold - Blue category for business media

The Pain Project investigates the lack of access to morphine, the gold standard for treating pain. Teams travelled to India, Ukraine and Uganda to explore how such countries manage the pain of patients suffering from cancer and other terminal diseases. The stories of patients, caregivers and other stakeholders are featured in 13 short videos. They reveal how a combination of bureaucratic hurdles and the chilling effect of the global drug war are largely to blame, leaving humanitarians scrambling to work outside the law — or change the law — to bring relief to suffering patients all over the world.


CUT - Gold - Green Category for news media

CUT is based on a year-long investigation into the roots of global illegal logging. Ten journalism students in UBC’s International Reporting Program conducted on-the-ground reporting in three logging hotspots—Indonesia, Russia and Cameroon. They analyzed the environmental and social costs and the role of consumers. To engage viewers, the image of an apartment filled with wood products links to the producing country. An introductory video leads users to explore illegal logging in three countries along with related stories. Throughout the site, the multimedia character of the project is enhanced through videos, text, images, GIFs and audio clips.


The UC Observer - Gold - Red category for consumer magazines

The Observer reported on Canada's Out of the Cold programs, which shelter untold thousands every winter. For this short multimedia feature, the magazine returned to Waterloo, Ont.'s First United Church and found an ongoing need. Together, the narratives reveal the underlying problems of poverty and livelihood instability, not to mention the solutions moving forward. Equally important, we aspired to and succeeded in humanizing all of the subjects in this short online documentary.


CBC News - Best Interactive Solution of the Year - Offshore Tax Haven infographgic

Before unveiling our massive tax-haven investigation, CBCNews.ca decided it was critical to explain how the murky offshore world works. Text alone would not convey the complexity. We opted for an interactive animation that maps the proliferation of tax havens and the ways investors use them. Users follow the same steps a tax evader would, choosing a jurisdiction, setting up a trust and opening an account. 


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The art of digital story telling is taking a new form with these COPA winners—a convergence of sight, sound, technical wizardry and words. What was surprising was that it took a group of students to lead they way in this year’s winner’s circle. The best ideas and inventions all started out as school projects, and the hub at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism offers a look at how we may tell stories in the future.