Canadian Association of Journalists announces this year's finalists for country's top investigative journalism awards
CALGARY, AB, April 4, 2025 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) is pleased to share its finalists for 2024 CAJ Awards.
Recipients in each category will be announced at the awards gala on Saturday, May 31, 2025 at the Delta Hotel Downtown Calgary.
The gala is the CAJ's signature annual event to conclude its national conference. The theme for this year's conference is Because Facts Still Matter.
"Journalism that serves the public interest is an essential service that shines a light into the darkest corners of society," said Brent Jolly, president of the CAJ. "In a time of chaos, disorder, and shrinking civic spaces, fact-based journalism is a critical antidote to a rising sense of cynicism. Quality journalism serves as a beacon of hope for a more fair and just world - a quality that is universally shared by this year's finalists."
Judges selected these finalists from a record 540 submissions. "Our team was blown away by the range and depth of the quality journalism Canadians produced this year," said Jason Markusoff, CAJ Awards committee chair. "Many judges told me how difficult their selections were this year, given how much inspiring and stellar work was entered."
For the first time this year, CAJ Awards will announce two winners in each category: Gold and Silver. Both will get certificates to acknowledge the outstanding journalism, while the Gold winner will also get a monetary prize.
Finalists are listed below in alphabetical order by media outlet. Links to nominated work have been provided where available.
The finalists in the WRITTEN NEWS category are:
Grant Robertson, Kathryn Blaze Baum
The algorithm
The Globe and Mail
Nicholas De Rosa, Jeff Yates
Le Canada, « cible numéro un » de fraudeurs internationaux
Radio-Canada Info
Ghada Alsharif
I went undercover as an Uber Eats courier
Toronto Star
Wendy Gillis, Jennifer Pagliaro
The invisible girl
Toronto Star
Jeff Hamilton, Katrina Clarke
Building blocks, crumbling foundation
Winnipeg Free Press
The finalists in the HUGO RODRIGUES AWARD FOR COMMUNITY NEWS (formerly Community Written) category are:
Michelle Allan
Families in Thunder Bay accuse landlord of illegally shutting power, threats
CBC Thunder Bay
Heather Wright
York 1 environmental
The Independent of Petrolia and Central Lambton
Stephanie Crosier
Kingston courthouses 'security disaster waiting to happen'
Kingston Whig-Standard
Wency Leung
GFL says it's 'Green For Life'—Its neighbours disagree
The Local
Jessica Lee
Grizzly bears back in crosshairs
Rocky Mountain Outlook
The finalists in the BROADCAST OVER FIVE MINUTES category are:
Brittany Guyot, Tom Fennario
Food for profit
APTN Investigates
Mark Kelley, Timothy Sawa, Lisa Ellenwood, Loretta Hicks
Dawson Creek: We want our town back
CBC News: The Fifth Estate
Ryan Garland, Omar Dabaghi-Pacheco
Priority Purple - Overdose in progress
CBC Ottawa
Priscilla Plamondon-Lalancette, Gil Shochat
La face cachée de l'aluminium vert
Radio-Canada Info
Brandi Morin, Geordie Day
The Apache Stronghold standing in the way of a massive coppermine
Ricochet Media
The finalists in the BROADCAST UNDER FIVE MINUTES category are:
Rebecca Collard
The day after: Young Palestinians want "honest democracy"
CBC News
Yvette Brend, Nicholas Allan
Lytton rebuild
CBC Vancouver
Marie-Claude Paradis-Desfosses
Violence à Lac Simon : «On se fait poignarder» au primaire, confie une enfant de 11 ans
Noovo Info
Davide Gentile, Daniel Boily, Jacques Racine, Ivanoh Demers
Une plaie de lit fatale pour un tétraplégique
Radio-Canada Info
Romain Schue, Thomas Bignon
Dans les coulisses des traversées clandestines avec des passeurs indiens
Radio-Canada Info
The finalists in the COMMUNITY BROADCAST category are:
Taryn Grant
On the doorstep
CBC Atlantic Voice
Virginie Ann
Addictions Awareness Week: Crucial conversations in the Yukon
CBC Yukon
Lela Savic
Pas tout Montréal
La Converse
Alice Zanetta
Des citoyens lancent un café solidaire à Sainte-Foy
Fréquence / CKIA
James Westman, Anthony Lippa-Hardy, Anita Li
Why you're at risk every time you cross this intersection in Scarborough
The Green Line
The finalists in the DATA JOURNALISM category are:
Valérie Ouellet, Mike Crawley, Aloysius Wong, Andreas Wesley, Catherine Cullen
Canada's international student spike was blamed on private colleges. Here's what really happened
CBC News: Investigative Unit
Julie Ireton, Valérie Ouellet, Falice Chin
Paid to stay home
CBC Ottawa
Erin Anderssen, Chen Wang, Rachelle Younglai
Wasted space: Could Canada's underused public land be the key to solving the housing crisis?
The Globe and Mail
Charles Mathieu, Dominique Cambron-Goulet
La carte des «trappes à tickets» : Voyez les secteurs avec le plus de contraventions
Journal de Montréal
Sylvie Fournier, Daniel Tremblay, Benoit Michaud, Jo-Ann Demers
Église catholique inc.
Radio-Canada Info
The finalists in the ONLINE MEDIA category are:
Emily Blake
Effectively impossible for sex offenders to get treatment in NWT
Cabin Radio
Robert Cribb, Declan Keogh, Norma Hilton, Scott Martin, Rhythm Sachdeva
Lead in drinking water
Investigative Journalism Bureau
Thomas Gerbet
Autochtones et Hydro-Québec : le grand malaise des factures impayées
Radio-Canada (web)
Christopher Curtis
Uncovering an illegal dumping scheme in Kanesatake
The Rover
Chris Beaver, Katie O'Connor, Jasmine El Kurd, Pam Palmater
NDN POV
TVO Today
The finalists in the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION JOURNALISM are:
Allison Jones
Ontario hospitals, LTC homes spent nearly $1B on agency staff last year
The Canadian Press
Emma McIntosh
Containment breached
The Narwhal
Caroline Touzin, Ariane Lacoursière
Centres jeunesse et foyers de groupe de la DPJ : De plus en plus de mesures de contention ou d'isolement
La Presse
Thomas Gerbet
Northvolt : Québec a retiré des arguments scientifiques de son analyse
Radio-Canada
Amanda Follett Hosgood
BC illegally collected personal info tied to the Wet'suwet'en conflict
The Tyee
This award is kindly sponsored by the Ken and Debbie Rubin Public Interest Advocacy Fund.
The finalists in the PHOTOJOURNALISM category are:
Gavin John
Gavin John portfolio
The Globe and Mail, The Narwhal
Amy Romer
Photography from a 4-day reporting trip with Brandi Morin
IndigiNews, Ricochet Media
Martin Tremblay
New hope for Syria
La Presse
Carlos Osorio
Carlos Osorio 2024 portfolio
Reuters, The Globe and Mail
The finalists in the SCOOP category are:
Shireen Ahmed
Toronto awarded WNBA expansion team to begin play in 2026
CBC Sports
Anaïs Elboujdaïni
Le Canada demande à des travailleurs de la santé de Gaza s'ils ont soigné des membres du Hamas
La Converse
Joanna Frketich
Investigating deaths at Ontario children's hospital
The Hamilton Spectator
Bethany Lindsay
One third of B.C.'s 'publicly funded substance-use treatment beds' don't provide any treatment
Investigative Journalism Foundation
Brett McKay
Alberta premier reveals plans to transfer hospitals away from AHS
St. Albert Gazette
The finalists in the DAILY EXCELLENCE category are:
Margaret Evans, Stephanie Jenzer, David Iacolucci
At Saydnaya prison, Syrians are looking for answers
CBC News: The National
Suzanne Rent
Build Nova Scotia gives Atlantic Road Construction and Paving deadline after company puts barriers at trail in Dartmouth Cove
The Halifax Examiner
Sebastian Bron, Fallon Hewitt
Former Hamilton Catholic teacher killed in random attack; police charge alleged serial killer
The Hamilton Spectator
Shannon Waters
What on Earth just happened with B.C.'s carbon tax?
The Narwhal
Thomas Gerbet, Lise Millette
Cancer : Rouyn-Noranda va perdre son seul médecin oncologue
Radio-Canada Info
The finalists in the WRITTEN FEATURE category are:
Fabrice de Pierrebourg
Reconstruire une cité millénaire
L'actualité
Janice Dickson
Operation Abraham's mission of mercy
The Globe and Mail
Lindsay Jones
A cloud of mistrust
The Globe and Mail
Jana Pruden
The audacity of rope
The Globe and Mail
Rachel Browne
A killer among them
Maclean's
The finalists in the COMMUNITY WRITTEN FEATURE category are:
Liny Lamberink
Regrowth
CBC North
Julien Green
Troubled water: The Eagle gold mine failure
CBC Yukon
Loubna Chlaikhy, Melissa Haouari
Quand les armes à feu sont mises entre les mains d'adolescents
La Converse
Tyler Harper
In every Nelson he visits, Jeff Truesdell finds the man he loved
Nelson Star
Jeff Outhit
Everything was a lie
Waterloo Region Record
The finalists in the JHR / CAJ AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING are:
Tamara Pimentel
Beyond the strip
APTN
Jessica Owen
Lack of support leaves victims of rape more angry, mortified
CollingwoodToday
Robert Cribb, Declan Keogh, Wendy-Ann Clarke, Owen Thompson
Mind games
Investigative Journalism Bureau
Team
La prison de l'Esprit-Saint
Noovo Info
Gabrielle Duchaine
La maison des horreurs
La Presse
The finalists in the CWA CANADA / CAJ AWARD FOR LABOUR REPORTING are:
David Wiwchar
Vietnamese migrant workers rescued
93.3 The PEAK CJAV-FM (Port Alberni)
Anusha Siddiqui
Exploited in the workplace: The 'Canadian dream' turns into a nightmare for international students
Investigative Journalism Foundation
Natalia Rivero Gómez
Reporting on working conditions in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
The Rover
Zak Vescera
Poisoned waters: The war between BC Ferries and its union
The Tyee
Emma Arkell
Canadian teachers face harassment in wake of 'parental rights' policies
Xtra Magazine
The finalists in the JHR / CAJ EMERGING INDIGENOUS JOURNALIST AWARD are:
Odette Auger
Portfolio
APTN News, Windspeaker
Tchadas Leo
Portfolio
CHEK News
Jérôme Gill-Couture
Portfolio
Radio-Canada Info
Crystal Greene
Portfolio
Ricochet Media, IndigiNews, Pivot Media
Joy SpearChief-Morris
Portfolio
Toronto Star
The finalists in the ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE CHANGE AWARD category are:
Danielle Paradis, Mark Blackburn, Jesse Andrushko
The place that thaws
APTN News
Team
Eyes of the beast: Climate disaster survivor stories
Climate Disaster Project, Neworld Theatre
Jenn Thornhill Verma, Johnny C.Y. Lam, Murat Yükselir, Melissa Tait, Clare Vander Meersch
Labrador Inuit are taking the fight against climate change into their own hands
The Globe and Mail
Ainslie Cruickshank
A portrait of pollution around Canada's busiest port
The Narwhal
Gilbert Bégin, Julien Robert
Le boeuf musqué à la conquête du Nunavik
Radio-Canada Info
The finalists in the NATIONAL NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL-CAJ STUDENT JOURNALISM AWARD OF EXCELLENCE are:
Andrew Neary
R.A. Sennett: From public school to global headquarters, 170 years of learning
The Chronicle - Durham College
Asbah Ahmad, Sophia Coppolino, Aimée Look
The hazing incident that erased a prestigious Queen's Commerce club
The Queen's Journal - Queen's University
Chloe Kim, Leonor Dias, Alexa Difrancesco, Noel Tesfa
The Call (S3E5) - We Met U When
Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism
Nalyn Tindall
Getting by on gig work: The hidden costs of 'easy' money
The Eyeopener - Toronto Metropolitan University
Om Shanbhag
The driving dilemma: How nursing students struggle to access placements
The Western Gazette - Western University
This award is kindly sponsored by the Fraser MacDougall Journalism Prize Fund.
This year's awards finalists qualify for special discounted rates for the conference and awards gala. All finalists will be contacted with how to obtain these discounts.
Tickets for this year's gala are currently available for purchase and seating is limited.
The CAJ thanks all those who submitted their work for consideration and congratulate the finalists listed above. We look forward to further recognizing and celebrating your work.
The CAJ is Canada's largest national professional organization for journalists from all media, representing members across the country. The CAJ's primary roles are to provide high-quality professional development for its members and public-interest advocacy.
SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists