We would like to announce the Social Work Prize winners for the 2022-23 Academic Year.
Social Work Prize ($250)
This prize recognizes a student who has shown exceptional dedication to the standards of the profession and a commitment to social justice/action. Students are nominated for this prize by their Faculty Field Liaison (FFL), each FFL can nominate one student each year. The winners are then selected by a committee based upon accomplishments and evaluations during field placements in the third- or fourth-year of the program. There is one prize awarded to a student from each campus.
The Durham Prize winner was Graham Burlton. This is an excerpt from his nomination:
Throughout my facilitation of these courses and in professional discussions with Graham he has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the standards of the Social Work profession and an exceptional commitment to social justice and social action.
Graham actively engages with the course materials, readings, and critical discussions in both courses and shows genuine interest in learning; over the academic year he has only missed one class. One week after beginning his field practice, Graham shared an experience, detailed below, that I think is illustrative of his commitment to social work and to the principles of social work practice as per CASW Code of Ethics and Ethical Guidelines.
Graham also shared that this critical reflection gave him a glimpse into what individuals from non-dominant groups in our society must experience on a daily basis, and that this strengthened his commitment to continue to advocate for less privileged populations and to uphold the CASW Code of Ethics and Ethical Guidelines in order to bring about social justice.
Graham went from questioning and feeling a sense of non-belonging to learning new ways of working across diversities and accepting that there are different ways of doing social work. In the end, Graham competed for and was offered a position as a Care Coordinator with VON and started his full-time employment with the organization this past week. This is just one example of the critical thought and commitment Graham brings to his study and practice of social work, but he also demonstrated this consistently throughout the academic year in seminar discussions and assessed work."
The Peterborough Prize winner was Natasha Van Renesse. The nominator had this to say: "I would likely nominate Natasha Van Renesse. She excelled in both of her field placements working in harm reduction and both field placement agencies offered her employment. She made effective use of supervision and was always highly reflective in her journal reflections going above and beyond. She works for the Safe Consumption Site and Crossroads and was stellar in her efforts to support our most marginalized."