Canadian Association of Journalists announces the 2025 finalists for Canada’s preeminent awards program

Press Release

April 21, 2026

The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) is pleased to share its finalists for 2025 CAJ Awards.

Recipients in each category will be announced at the awards gala on Saturday, June 13, 2026 at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communications.

The gala is the CAJ’s signature annual event to conclude its national conference. The theme for this year’s conference is Power, Platforms and the Press.

“This year’s finalists all demonstrate a commitment to excellence that goes far beyond simply reporting facts – these stories involve persistence, perseverance and a demand for accountability,” said Brent Jolly, president of the CAJ.

“A commitment to excellence is what separates journalism from noise. The daily commitment of Canadian journalists to persevere through intimidation, secrecy, or other personal risks to uphold the public’s right to know is not only a courageous act but a vital safeguard to our collective health, safety, and continued democratic way of life.”

Judges selected these finalists from a record 561 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. “Judges told us they were impressed by the breadth and ambition of the journalism produced and delivered this year.”

Two new awards join the CAJ’s roster for 2025. The first is the Janice Johnston Award for Crime and Justice Reporting, which recognizes journalism that treats victims with dignity, is grounded in rigorous original reporting and holds police and legal systems to account. The award is a tribute to the longtime CBC Edmonton reporter whose fearless, compassionate work illuminated public-safety issues.

The second award is the Geoffrey Stevens Award for Local Government Reporting, spotlighting journalism that demonstrates deep understanding of local institutions – including municipal governments, schools boards, First Nations bands, regional councils or other local public bodies – and shows how their decisions shape daily life. This award honours the veteran reporter, editor and columnist whose six-decade career chronicled governments at all levels.

Silver award recipients receive certificates to acknowledge their outstanding journalism, while Gold winners also receive monetary prizes.

Finalists are listed below in alphabetical order by the last name of the lead entrant. Links to nominated work have been provided where available.

The finalists in the WRITTEN NEWS category are:

Amy Dempsey Raven, Megan Ogilvie
Failing Jade
Toronto Star

Priscilla Plamondon-Lalancette
Voici comment des réseaux criminels ont orchestré la venue d’étudiants africains au Canada
Radio-Canada Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean

Sarah Maude Lefebvre, Félix Séguin
Munitions, chargeur, viseur optique: un jeu d’enfant de sortir du matériel militaire de la base de Valcartier
Le Journal de Montréal

Guillaume Piedboeuf
Albertine Lapensée, perdue… et retrouvée
Radio-Canada

The finalists in the HUGO RODRIGUES AWARD FOR COMMUNITY NEWS (formerly Community Written) category are:

Justin Brake, Derek Montague
Labrador doctor continues practicing while under investigation following complaints from at least 20 women
The Independent

Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles
North Bay mayor’s credit card scandal
North Bay Nugget

Nicholas Hune-Brown
After the international student gold rush
The Local

Larry Pynn
Unauthorized landfill on Cowichan Tribes reserve leaching pollutants into Cowichan River
sixmountains.ca

Daniel Taekema
What happened to the Wolfe Island Ferry?
CBC Kingston

The finalists in the BROADCAST OVER FIVE MINUTES category are:

Jorge Barrera, Brenda Witmer, Ousama Farag
Project Octopus: Video evidence reveals inner workings of human smuggling investigation
CBC News Investigative Unit

Avery Haines, Joseph Loiero, Angelo Altomare, Jerry Vienneau
W5’s Avery Haines Investigates: Sleeping with the Enemy
CTV News / Bell Media Inc.

Geoff Leo, Albert Leung, Joan Webber, Joana Draghici
Hard to swallow
CBC Investigates

Tamara Pimentel
APTN Investigates: Skin-Deep
APTN

Team
News deserts
TVO

The finalists in the BROADCAST UNDER FIVE MINUTES category are:

Daniel Boily, Davide Gentile
Itinérance: comment cohabiter avec les campements?
Radio-Canada Montréal

Marie-Claude Paradis-Desfossés
Dénonciations, plaintes et suicide dans un centre de traitement des dépendances pour les Premières Nations
Noovo

Omar Sachedina
Kirk’s journey
CTV News / Bell Media Inc.

The finalists in the COMMUNITY BROADCAST category are:

Jules Bugiel
Plan to move and divide Jarry Pool has locals asking ‘why?’
CKUT Radio 90.3 FM / Frequency News

Ryan Cooke
Pure hell
CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

Guy Quenneville
The St Pius X school shooting, 50 years later
CBC Ottawa

Savannah Stewart, Justin Khan
Palestine on campus
The Rover

The finalists in the DATA JOURNALISM category are:

Julia-Simone Rutgers, Malak Abas
‘Balancing act’ or ‘disaster’? Winnipeg’s transit overhaul, mapped
The Narwhal / Winnipeg Free Press

Team
Y a-t-il de la surenchère dans votre quartier?
Radio-Canada

Team
Risky restaurants
Edmonton Journal / MacEwan University

Rory White, David McKie
Mapping the dark-money oil and gas ads targeting a small Ontario town
Canada’s National Observer

The finalists in the ONLINE MEDIA category are:

Rob Csernyik, Tara-Michelle Ziniuk, Angela Mullins, Julie Carl, Tobin Ng
This online scam is putting the LGBTQ2S+ global activist community at risk
Xtra

Stephen Maher
Separatism in Canada
Ricochet Media

Taylor West
Muskoka Boat Rentals: Investigation into withheld deposits and alleged fraud
Muskoka411

Nicholas Hune-Brown
Investigating a possible scammer in journalism’s AI era
The Local

Charlie Pinkerton, Jessica Smith Cross
Meet the bagman
The Trillium

The finalists in the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION JOURNALISM category are:

Thomas Gerbet, Marianne Dépelteau, Thomas Deshaies
La production de canneberges risque de vider des rivières si elle grossit encore
Radio-Canada

Hiren Mansukhani
Disaster deep below: How Calgary’s catastrophic feeder main failure was decades in making
Calgary Herald / Calgary Sun

Alanna Smith
Interference in Alberta’s measles response
The Globe and Mail

Jessica Smith Cross
Hands-on care in long-term care
The Trillium

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
Protection du caribou : Le plan qui était à un poil d’aboutir
La Presse

**This award is kindly sponsored by the Ken and Debbie Rubin Public Interest Advocacy Fund.**

The finalists in the PHOTOJOURNALISM category are:

Cole Burston
Portfolio
Freelance

Leah Hennel
Portfolio
Freelance

Chris Young
From Moss Park, with love
The Canadian Press

The finalists in the SCOOP category are:

Aidan Chamandy, Charlie Pinkerton, Jessica Smith Cross, Jack Hauen
OPP investigating Skills Development Fund recipient
The Trillium / Village Media

Ethan Cox, Jerome Turner
RCMP formally apologize for violating journalist’s rights, commit to changes in wake of explosive oversight report
Ricochet Media

Robert Fife, Marieke Walsh
Trudeau expected to announce exit as party leader before national caucus meeting Wednesday
The Globe and Mail

Bethany Lindsay, Michelle Ghoussoub
UBC clinical trial misconduct
Investigative Journalism Foundation / CBC News

Matt Simmons, Zak Vescera
Canada’s spy agency now shares intel with corporations — thanks to a push from TC Energy
The Narwhal / Investigative Journalism Foundation

The finalists in the SAME-DAY STORY (previously Daily Excellence) category are:

Démar Grant
Flooding basements
The Hamilton Spectator

Caitlyn Gowriluk, Josh Crabb, Arturo Chang, Tyson Koschik, Randall McKenzie
Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe now has a name: Ashlee Shingoose was Winnipeg serial killer’s 1st victim
CBC Manitoba

Angela MacIvor, Aly Thomson, Shaina Luck
RCMP scrutiny of missing N.S. children’s mother, stepfather suggests no criminal involvement
CBC Nova Scotia

Jen St. Denis
Who Is Othman Mekhloufi, the far-right poster behind OneBC’s strife?
The Tyee

Team
Vancouver’s ‘darkest day’: Inside the Lapu Lapu festival tragedy
The Canadian Press

The finalists in the WRITTEN FEATURE category are:

Alyshah Hasham
Condo v Church: A story of Toronto on the steps of Sanctuary
Toronto Star

Katharine Lake Berz
The secret that may have saved her life
Toronto Star

Nicole O’Reilly
He beat his stepfather to death — and was found not criminally responsible
The Hamilton Spectator

Jana Pruden
The matriarchy with muscles
The Globe and Mail

Jennifer Yang
The drastic brain procedure that gave a baby a fighting chance
The Globe and Mail

The finalists in the COMMUNITY WRITTEN FEATURE category are:

Samantha Beattie
The boys of Robert Land
CBC Hamilton

Eve Cable
Aged out and left behind
The Eastern Door

Kathryn Mannie
Toronto cafe ordered to destroy $8K worth of Vegemite by food authority
TorontoToday

Inori Roy
The worm hunters of Southern Ontario
The Local

The finalists in the ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE CHANGE AWARD category are:

Liam Casey, Jordan Omstead, Chris Katsarov Luna
Inside the Ring of Fire: A tale of two First Nations and a road that could change everything
The Canadian Press

Lindsay Jones, Patrick White
To the last drop
The Globe and Mail

Cloe Logan
Driving the ice road: A journey along a community’s disappearing lifeline
Canada’s National Observer

Daphne Cameron
Objectif : produire du lait carboneutre
La Presse+

Angela Belleau, Tom Fennario
APTN Investigates: Sacrifice zones
APTN

The finalists in the JANICE JOHNSTON AWARD FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTING category are:

Tavia Grant
On a cold trail: A suspicious death, police delays and unanswered questions
The Globe and Mail

Avery Haines, Joseph Loiero, Angelo Altomare, Jerry Vienneau, Zak Vescera
W5’s Avery Haines Investigates: Cartel Canada
CTV News / Investigative Journalism Foundation

Brendan Kennedy
Crisis behind bars: Ontario’s inhumane jail conditions
Toronto Star

Anna Mehler Paperny
Unfree: Behind Canada’s incarceration of Indigenous people
Reuters

Jen St. Denis
What really happened to Katica?
The Tyee

The finalists in the GEOFFREY STEVENS AWARD FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT REPORTING category are:

Marcus Bankuti
Election year in Kanesatake
The Eastern Door

Marianne Dépelteau
Fauquier-Strickland
Radio-Canada

Wency Leung
School board coverage
The Local

Josh Lewis
The cost of care: Where PEI’s health dollars go
Eastern Graphic

Tyler Olsen, Kristen Holliday
Mayor of chaos: How Kamloops politics became infamous
The Tyee / Castanet

The finalists in the JHR / CAJ AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING category are:

Robert Cribb, Masih Khalatbari, Rachel Parent
‘This is the new slavery’: Migrant farm workers underpaid, abused and injured
Investigative Journalism Bureau / National Post

Allya Davidson, Scott Anderson, Ionna Roumeliotis, Andrew Culbert, Emmanuel Marchand
Funding the occupation
CBC the fifth estate

Gabrielle Duchaine
Plus d’un an sans sortir dehors
La Presse

Nelisha Vellani, Asha Tomlinson, Katie Pedersen, Dexter McMillan
The sextortion network
CBC Marketplace

The finalists in the JHR / CAJ EMERGING INDIGENOUS JOURNALIST AWARD category are:

Vanna Blacksmith
Portfolio
CBC North Cree Unit

Sav Jonsa
Portfolio
APTN National News

Sis’moqon
Portfolio
CBC Indigenous

Alessia Passafiume
Portfolio
The Canadian Press

Savannah Ridley
Portfolio
The Narwhal

The finalists in the CWA CANADA / CAJ AWARD FOR LABOUR REPORTING category are:

Isaac Phan Nay
A janitor died on the job at SFU. Co-workers want change
The Tyee

Matt Simmons
Out of the shadows: Confronting sexual violence in tree-planting
The Narwhal

Team
Why criminal charges are rare for workplace deaths in Canada
CBC News

Caroline Touzin
Traités comme d’éternels stagiaires
La Presse

Zak Vescera
Temporary foreign worker inspections
The Investigative Journalism Foundation

The finalists in the NATIONAL NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL / CAJ STUDENT JOURNALISM AWARD OF EXCELLENCE category are:

Fernando Bossoes
Using Freedom of Information Act to investigate governance at Humber Polytechnic
Humber ETC / Humber College

Kristen de Jager
Portfolio
The Tyee / UBC

Thuy Anh Nguyen
Rising popularity of K-pop and K-dramas a sign of shifting perceptions of Korean identity and culture
Capital Current / Carleton University

Manoj Subramaniam
Indigenous narratives, sovereignty and narrative sovereignty
The Link / Concordia University

Alica Wang, Andrew Yang
Academic accessibility at uWaterloo: Is the University accommodating to invisible disabilities?
Imprint Publications / University of Waterloo

**This award is kindly sponsored by the Fraser MacDougall Journalism Prize Fund.**

All awards finalists qualify for special discounted rates for the conference and will be contacted with details on how to obtain this discount.

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.

For further information:
Brent Jolly, President – brent@caj.ca
Jason Markusoff, Awards committee chair – jason@caj.ca
Elisha Dacey, Awards committee vice-chair – elisha@caj.ca
General program inquiries – awards@caj.ca

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