The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) announced last week that Halifax journalist Richard Foot has made the shortlist for the Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award. Foot was nominated for his book, Driven: How the Bathurst Tragedy Ignited a Crusade for Change.
Contacted at his home in Nova Scotia, Foot graciously mentioned his colleagues and the two Bathurst mothers with whom he worked closely in writing the book. “It’s an honour to have Driven nominated for the Richardson prize and to be shortlisted alongside fellow journalists John DeMont and Stephen Kimber. I’m especially pleased that the story of the courageous mothers who fought for change after the Bathurst tragedy has been recognized in this way.”
In the early hours of January 12, 2008, seven members of the Bathurst High School basketball team and their coach’s wife died instantly when their school van collided with a tractor-trailer. Travelling in dirty weather, minutes from their homes, the impact forever shattered the lives of eight families and their community.
In the weeks that followed the horrific crash, Ana Acevedo and Isabelle Hains were transformed by their unimaginable grief into unlikely agents of courage and change. It was Isabelle and Ana who pushed the provincial government to hold an inquest into the accident. It was Isabelle and Ana who pushed the province to adopt the recommendations of the inquest. And it was Isabelle and Ana who made it safer for children to travel to extracurricular activities — in New Brunswick and throughout Canada.
A gripping story told in heartbreaking detail, Driven reveals the truth behind one of this country’s worst school tragedies and the long journey of the two women who fought for justice in the name of their sons.
The Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award was first presented in 1978. Named in honour of Evelyn Richardson, who in 1945 won the Governor General’s Non-Fiction Award for We Keep A Light, her memoir of life in a family of lighthouse keepers in Shelburne County, the award has been honouring the best non-fiction titles by Nova Scotians for 34 years. The 2014 winner of the Richardson Award will receive a prize of $2,000.
RICHARD FOOT is a freelance writer, whose byline appears in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, MacLean’s, and the Postmedia newspapers and on CBC Radio. He was formerly the Atlantic correspondent for the National Post and the Moncton bureau chief for the Telegraph Journal. His journalism has been nominated for three National Newspaper Awards, a National Magazine Award, and an Atlantic Journalism Award.
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