TORONTO, ON – A story on the ins and outs of business networking – and how it helped an insurance lawyer raise about $250,000 to support children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy – secured the 2016 Rolf Lockwood Scholarship for a Ryerson University journalism student.

The work by third-year student Sarah Cunningham-Scharf was recognized as the best example of a magazine article focusing on business journalism, and appeared in Canadian Insurance Top Broker magazine.

Lockwood is Today’s Trucking‘s founding editor and current editor at large. The award was created after Lockwood was recognized with the Canadian Business Press Harvey Southam Editorial Career Award. First established by Meritor and its senior director – marketing communications, Mike Pennington (now deceased), the Rolf Lockwood Scholarship is now continued by Newcom Business Media.

Cummingham-Scharf was inspired by the role of business networking when researching the article. “Meeting people and being authentic and truthful and honest in our society still has an impact even in a business context,” she said. “And business journalism doesn’t always have to be about the numbers. It can be on the human impact side as well.”

She will apply that mindset and funds from the scholarship to developing a website that explains personal finance to millennials.

“Coming out of high school I didn’t know what taxes were, I didn’t know what insurance was, I didn’t know there was a difference between a chequing and a savings account. There’s a lot of publications that cater at the higher level – where to invest your money, and mutual fund versus GICs – but there’s a real gap in knowledge in young millennials,” she said.

Cummingham-Scharf was also honored this year with the Seymour Schulich Undergraduate Award, which recognizes a student with an interest in financial journalism.