We usually run columns by Jack Knox — such as the great one on Thursday’s front page — but we don’t often write about Jack Knox. Today, we are making an exception.
Knox was named British Columbia’s commentator of the year at the annual Jack Webster awards dinner in Vancouver on Wednesday night.
The recognition is long overdue. Many readers have told me that Knox is, quite simply, the heart and soul of the Times Colonist. He tackles topics big and small, from the serious to the trivial. He is caring, he is witty, and he sincerely believes in the topics he writes about in his Times Colonist columns.
In recent months, for example, he has looked into why police investigation costs have gone up so much, the role of religious belief in politics, expedient but unnecessary political apologies, Ottawa’s unfair dismissal of pipeline protesters as an eco-elite, and how sexual orientation is no longer a big deal in the Canadian military.
Knox started his career as a 19-year-old reporter at the Kamloops Daily News.
He worked as an editor and reporter at newspapers in Campbell River and Regina before coming to the Times Colonist as a copy editor in 1988.
He also served as city editor before being named editorial page editor in 1998. He started writing his column on a weekly basis in 1997, and became a full-time columnist in 2000.
The annual awards are presented by the Jack Webster Foundation, dedicated to excellence in British Columbia journalism. The foundation was inspired by Webster, a television, radio and newspaper journalist known for his hard-hitting style.
Knox is the second Times Colonist columnist to win the award. The first was legislature columnist Les Leyne, who received it in 2009.
