Lisa LaFlamme named 'Best News Anchor, National' at Canadian Screen Awards

CTV News Channel: Lisa LaFlamme on the honour CTV National News Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Lisa LaFlamme says she was stunned by the overwhelming honour.

CTV National News Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Lisa LaFlamme has been named Best News Anchor at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards.

The awards for The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television were presented Sunday night at a televised gala at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, and included categories for news, digital media, film and television.

LaFlamme began her broadcasting career in 1988 as a copy writer and script assistant at CTV Kitchener (then named CKCO).

In the years that followed, LaFlamme moved into national and international reporting, covering wars, elections and natural disasters -- often from some of the world’s most hostile regions.

She covered the 2004 tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010. That same year, LaFlamme was also on the ground in Toronto, reporting at the G20 riots that shook the city.

In 2010, LaFlamme was appointed successor to Lloyd Robertson as full-time anchor of CTV National News, and since then, has helmed coverage of major world events, including the royal wedding of William and Kate, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2012 London Games. She anchored CTV National News live from a Cairo hotel room during the 2011 uprising in Egypt.

LaFlamme has received several accolades and awards for her work, including several RTNDA awards and five Gemini nominations. She received an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., and was awarded the Distinguished Canadian Award from the University of Ottawa.

In 2013, LaFlamme spent 10 days in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she mentored and trained local journalists as part of a partnership with Journalists for Human Rights.

CTV at the Canadian Screen Awards

The CTV family also took home a slew of awards at another Canadian Screen Week awards ceremony, held last week in Toronto.

Ken Shaw, the longtime co-anchor of Toronto's number one newscast, CTV News at Noon and Six, was named Best News Anchor at the Canadian Screen Awards on Tuesday night.

In addition, CTV National News with Lisa LaFlamme won for Best National Newscast at this year's Canadian Screen Awards, and the long-running CTV series W5 won for Best News Information Segment.

LaFlamme and the W5 team were also honoured for 'Best News Information Segment, for 'The Survivor,' a documentary report on a teenager who was a victim of the Toronto Eaton Centre shooting.

In non-fiction programming, CTV's The Amazing Race won in three categories: Best Cross-Platform Project (interactive), Best Photography in a Lifestyle or Reality/Competition Program or Series, and Best Writing in a Lifestyle or Reality/Competition Program or Series.