A distinguished CBC Television journalist who has trekked across Canada and around the world to bring Canadians information on issues that affect their lives has been named the 1998 recipient of the Great Trekker Award.
Eve Savory graduated from UBC in 1969 with a BA in Asian Studies.
"I am incredibly honoured," says Savory. "The Great Trekker Award links the alumni back to the students again and forges a new bond between generations.
"I remember hearing about the award when I was a student at UBC, but I never dreamed that I would receive it."
The award is given by UBC students to people who become prominent through achievements in their chosen fields and who make special contributions to the community.
Previous recipients include social activist Jim Green, philanthropists Cecil and Ida Green and author Pierre Berton.
With the opening of the Sing Tao School of Journalism and the 80th anniversary of The Ubyssey, the Alma Mater Society (AMS) felt it fitting to recognize a journalist of Savory's stature with the Great Trekker Award.
"Eve Savory has contributed greatly to informing Canadians about a wide-range of important topics," says AMS alumni commissioner, Dennis Visser.
Savory has done it all in her 24 years with CBC News, from general assignment duties in Vancouver to regional parliamentary reporter in Ottawa and national reporter in Saskatchewan and Alberta. She rose to prominence as the medical, science, environment and technology specialist for the network.
For the past four years, Savory has continued her special interests in the environment and science as a documentary reporter for The National Magazine.
The AMS cited the range of Savory's subjects, such as documentaries on the Voyager spacecraft mission to Neptune and a young girl's experience of a bone marrow transplant. Savory also covered the AIDS epidemic in its earliest days.
Savory's work has been acknowledged by a string of top awards.
In 1995, she received the Royal Canadian Institute's Sanford Fleming Medal for outstanding achievements in promoting knowledge and understanding of science among Canadians. In 1990 the B.C. Science Council established the Eve Savory Award for Science Communication.
"It is my sense that journalists in Canada are intimidated by science and yet we know that science is shaping our lives in ways we barely understand," Savory says. "To be honoured as a science journalist is an affirmation that the students recognize the importance of communicating science to Canadians."
The Great Trekker award, established in 1950, commemorates the Great Trek of Oct. 28, 1922, when 1,200 UBC students marched from the university's temporary home on the Fairview site to Point Grey to pressure the government to complete work on the university's buildings, still unfinished after 15 years.