A Canadore College graduate from the early 1980’s is being honoured by the age-old White House News Photographers Association.
The 100-year-old organization announced that they will present Charles MacDonald with the association’s Lifetime Achievement award at the 2018 ‘Eyes of History’ annual awards gala Saturday, June 16, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
“I was really surprised when I got it because they usually give it to the guys who are retiring and I am not quite there yet,” MacDonald told BayToday.ca.
“It was a real honour.”
Charles MacDonald is an award-winning editor, producer, and videographer. A graduate of Canadore College’s Television Broadcast TV course in the mid-1980’s, MacDonald has built an impressive resume and a great reputation in the industry.
Building upon the practical experience forged from a 13-year career with CTV National News, he made the transition from TV news to documentary film.
“It was a very grueling six or seven years here in Washington with CTV where I was on the road literally six or seven months of the year,” MacDonald said about his years at the Washington Bureau.
The Arnprior native has served as a Supervising Editor/Videographer with the National Geographic Channel, working out of their Washington headquarters and has traveled around the globe. From covering the aftermath of the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2002 to camping in the Australian Outback on camel, to dog sledding in the Canadian Arctic, professional opportunities keep presenting themselves to him. He has traveled to every continent except for Antarctica.
After leaving National Geographic Channel, MacDonald founded his own company, CMacFido Productions.
As a freelancer, now he is working on a shark birthing documentary for the Discovery Channel while dabbling in news again doing some contract work for PBS Newshour.
It’s been a long time since he attended Canadore, but MacDonald still keeps close ties to the school and is still involved with Canadore’s program advisory committee.
“I liked the idea of being up in the north. We have family in Sudbury so I had spent some time in the North, and it just seemed like the proper fit so when I went off to college back in 1983 I decided to go to North Bay and I have always been fond of North Bay,” admitted MacDonald.
“I go up once a year as part of their program advisory committee.”
