Canadian Screen Awards: Peter Mansbridge, Karyn Pugliese, Margaret Atwood to be honoured

Novelist and poet Margaret Atwood, retired CBC News correspondent Peter Mansbridge and APTN's Karyn Pugliese will be part of a class of special award honourees at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, which organizes the annual celebration of Canadian film, TV and digital productions,on Monday released itslist of nine award recipients at the 2018 ceremony in March in Toronto.

They are:

• Mansbridge: the Lifetime Achievement Award "for his exceptional lifetime of work which has had a profound impact on the media industry in Canada and abroad."

• Atwood and Jay Switzer, former CHUM Limited president:the Academy Board of Directors' Tribute "for each of their commitments to the growth of the Canadian media industry."

• Denis McGrath, the late screenwriter and industry commentator:the Margaret Collier Award "for his exceptional body of written work."

• Clark Johnson, performer and director:the Earle Grey Award "for his exceptional impact on the strength of the industry at home and around the world."

• Pat Ellingson, TVO's retired, longtime children's programming head: the Outstanding Media Innovation Award "for her successes in ground-breaking innovation in the Canadian media industry."

• Pugliese, APTN's executive director of news and current affairs: the Gordon Sinclair Award for Broadcast Journalism "for her exceptional contributions to Canadian television journalism."

Two programs will also be honoured.

CBC's Rick Mercer Report will be presented the Academy Icon Award "for its ongoing contribution to the media industry within Canada and globally," while Bell Media's annual Bell Let's Talk initiative will receive the Humanitarian Award "in recognition of the multi-reaching national campaign about mental health."

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The work of this year's award recipients have "impacted us, not just in Canada, but around the world," academy CEO Beth Janson said in a statement.

"The academy is honoured to recognize their decades of outstanding and important contributions that have pushed boundaries and set new standards that will inspire generations of Canadians to come."

The CSAgala will be broadcast live on CBC from Toronto's Sony Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday, March 11, beginning at 8 p.m. ET.