Announcing the CAJ Awards Finalists

OTTAWA, April 6, 2020 – The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) is pleased to release the list of finalists for the 2019 CAJ Awards program.

Congratulations and a hearty félicitations to all finalists.

The original plan was to announce the recipients of each of the awards listed below at the CAJ’s annual conference, which had been set for Montreal at the end of May. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing restrictions, the conference has been cancelled.

The CAJ awards committee has been working on an alternate, online means of announcing and sharing the recipients of these awards for 2020. We will provide further details on this in the weeks ahead, but we will be announcing the recipients on the date of our originally scheduled awards gala, Saturday, May 30, 2020. This will include the announcement of the recipient of the McGillivray Award, which recognizes the most-deserving of the recipients in our seven investigative awards.

Please note the media outlet listed is where the finalist worked at the time the entry was broadcast/published or where the particular entry was broadcast/published. Finalists are listed alphabetically by media outlet. Links, where available, have been provided in the titles of the finalists’ entries; for series or portfolios, the linked item is the first item submitted in the portfolio or series.

The finalists in the OPEN MEDIA category are:

Jean-François Cloutier, Jean-Louis Fortin, Hugo Joncas, Philippe Langlois, Félix Séguin, Andrea Valéria
Manquements éthiques et prêts douteux à la Caisse de dépôt
Le Journal de Montréal – Bureau d’enquête

Thomas Rohner
OJ’s Story
Freelancer / Toronto Star / CBC News – North

Wendy Gillis
It Took A Village
Toronto Star

Ryan Thorpe
Homegrown hate
Winnipeg Free Press

The finalists in the COMMUNITY MEDIA category are:

Sally Pitt, Donna Allen
Everyone Knew
CBC News – Prince Edward Island

Katrina Clarke
A Shot in the Dark: New Brunswick school vaccination policies
The Daily Gleaner, Fredericton, N.B.

Étienne Fortin Gauthier, Rudy Chabannes
Un journal bilingue siphonne des fonds publics, tout en volant du contenu
ONFR+ / tfo

Grant Lafleche
The Inside Job
The Standard, St. Catharines, Ont.

Michael Robinson, Mike Landry
Broken Homes (no link available)
The Telegraph-Journal, Saint John, N.B.

The finalists in the OPEN BROADCAST FEATURE category are:

Cullen Crozier, Brittany Guyot, Holly Moore, Melissa Ridgen
Broken Circle
APTN Investigates

Trina Roache
Living Treaties
APTN Investigates

Julie Ireton, Kristin Nelson
The Band Played On
CBC News – Ottawa

Jean Balthazard, Daphnée Hacker-B., Matthew Joycey, Felipe Bello, Ève Lévesque
Déneigeur sans formation
Tabloïd / Quebecor

The finalists in the OPEN BROADCAST NEWS category are:

Andreas Wesley, Diana Swain, Erica Johnson, Enza Uda, Jean-Francois Benoit, Naire Bahjat, Stephen Davis
Border Agents Alleged Misconduct
CBC News – Investigative unit

Devin Heroux, Dominique Banoun, Jamie Strashin, Jill English, Lori Ward, Michael Drapack
Shattered Trust
CBC News – Investigative unit

Avis Favaro, Elizabeth St.Philip, Andre Lapalme, Brett Mitchell, Anton Koschany
Deadly Vision
CTV – W5

Anton Koschany, Kevin Newman, Kathlene Calahan, Andre Lapalme, Kirk Neff, Brett Mitchell
The Laundromat
CTV – W5

The finalists in the COMMUNITY BROADCAST category are:

Prajwala Dixit
A New Lens on Newfoundland
Freelancer / CBC News – Newfoundland and Labrador

Carolyn Ray
Facing financial ruin to get a new lung, some are choosing to die instead
CBC News – Nova Scotia

Ashley Legassic, Kent Simmonds
You’re Not Alone — A Deeper Look into Suicide
CFJC, Kamloops, B.C.

Gisèle Quenneville, Andréanne Baribeau, Aimé Majeau Beauchamp, Étienne Fortin-Gauthier, Joanne Belluco
Les accents
ONFR+ / tfo

The finalists in the DATA JOURNALISM AWARD are:

Andreas Wesley, Anu Singh, Caitlin Taylor, Dan Taekema, David Common, Ellen Mauro, Jorge Barrera, Joseph Loiero, Sian Lloyd, Valerie Ouellet
Peer-on-Peer Violence in Canadian Schools
CBC News

Inayat Singh, Naël Shiab, Romain Schué, Valérie Ouellet, Zach Dubinsky, Vincent Maisonneuve
Who’s behind Canada’s Most Active Airbnb Accounts?
CBC News / Radio-Canada – Investigative unit

Institute for Investigative Journalism and media partners
Tainted Water
IIJ / Toronto Star / Global News / Le Devoir / Regina Leader-Post / National Observer

Philippe Langlois, Sarah-Maude Lefebvre, Andrea Valéria
Combien gagnent vos élus?
Le Journal de Montréal – Bureau d’enquête

Bethanee Diamond, Ava Coulter, Ian Gibb, Piper MacDougall, Isabel Ruitenbeek, Julia-Simone Rutgers, Jane Sangster, Stacey Seward
Foreclosed
The Signal / University of King’s College, Halifax / The Coast / Pictou Advocate / Port Hawkesbury Reporter

The finalists in the ONLINE MEDIA category are:

Craig Silverman
Trap King
Buzzfeed News

Michelle Shephard, Kathleen Goldhar, Ilina Ghosh, Mitchell Stuart, Judy Ziyi Gu, Tanya Springer, Arif Noorani, Leslie Merklinger
Uncover: Sharmini
CBC News – Investigative podcasts

Tim Bousquet
The Wrongful Conviction of Glen Assoun
Halifax Examiner

Sharon J. Riley
15-minute approvals: investigating the Alberta Energy Regulator
The Narwhal

Eilís Quinn
The Arctic Railway: Building a Future or Destroying a Culture?
Radio Canada International – Eye on the Arctic

The finalists in the PHOTOJOURNALISM category are:

Jesse Winter
2019 portfolio (no single link available)
Freelancer

Darryl Dyck
2019 portfolio (no single link available)
Freelancer / The Canadian Press

Valerian Mazataud
2019 portolio from three projects
Le Devoir / Globe and Mail

Amanda Annand
The pit of San Pedro: the life and death of a Canadian mine in Mexico
The Narwhal

The finalists in the SCOOP category are:

Debra Arbec
Montreal-based UN aviation agency tried to cover up 2016 cyberattack, documents show
CBC News – Montreal

Joanne Chianello, Jennifer Chevalier
Councillor asked job applicant about going braless, woman alleges
CBC News – Ottawa

Todd Battis
C-Section Scandal at The Moncton Hospital
CTV National News

Steven Chase, Robert Fife, Sean Fine
PMO pressed justice minister to abandon prosecution of SNC-Lavalin
The Globe and Mail

Dave Battagello
Contaminated property collapses into Detroit River; Uranium, radiation concerns dogged former Revere Copper and Brass site
Windsor Star

The finalists in the DAILY EXCELLENCE category are:

Adrienne Arsenault, Briar Stewart
New Zealand Mosque Attack
CBC News – The National

Paul Workman
Ethiopian Airlines Crash
CTV National News

Joe Belanger, Sebastian Bron, Max Martin, Joe Ruscitti, Greg Van Moorsel, Cheryl Chute, Robin Harvey, Bruce Urquhart, Megan Stacey, Jonathan Juha, Jennifer Bieman, Dale Carruthers, Dan Brown, Mike Hensen
Explosion rocks Old East Village neighbourhood
London Free Press

Blair Crawford, Elizabeth Payne, Kelly Egan, Jon Willing, Shaamini Yogaretnam, Taylor Blewett, Joanne Laucius, Wayne Cuddington, Julie Oliver
Westboro Bus Crash
Ottawa Citizen

The finalists in the TEXT FEATURE category are:

Grant Robertson, Eric Atkins
Blind spots
The Globe and Mail

Angie Landry, Mélanie Picard
Survivre à la 117
Radio-Canada – Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Que.

Nadine Yousif
A small Alberta city is home to the busiest drug consumption site in North America. We spent 12 hours inside
Star Edmonton

Jessica Davey-Quantick
20/20 Vision
Up Here, Yellowknife, NWT

Melissa Martin
Power Surge
Winnipeg Free Press

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

Melissa Ridgen
The Apprehension of Baby H
APTN National News

Samantha Beattie
Filipino Children Exploited Daily For Pedophiles In Countries Like Canada
HuffPost Canada

Emma McIntosh, Mike De Souza
How Alberta kept Fort McKay First Nation in the dark about a toxic cloud from the oilsands
National Observer / Toronto Star

Mélissa Guillemette
Les personnes obèses sont-elles bien soignées?
Québec Science

Sarah Lawrynuik
Dragged into U.S. politics, Ukraine’s real challenge is ending a conflict sparked by Russia-backed separatists
Freelancer / Toronto Star

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

Timothy Sawa, Kimberly Ivany, Mark Kelley, Loretta Hicks, John Badcock
Officer Down
CBC News – The Fifth Estate

Eli Glasner
‘I just broke down crying’: Canadian video game creators face gruelling ‘crunch’ hours
CBC News – The National

Sarah Lawrynuik
‘It’s all worth it,’ says couple who lost everything fighting for farm workers
Freelancer / CBC Radio One – The Doc Project

Kalli Anderson
Providing Care, Barely Getting By
Freelancer / thelocal.to

Brendan Kennedy
I went undercover as an Amazon delivery driver. Here’s what I learned about the hidden costs of free shipping
Toronto Star

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

Rhiannon Johnson
Portfolio entry
CBC News – Indigenous

Jenna Dulewich
Stoney Nakoda portfolio entry
Rocky Mountain Outlook, Canmore, Alta.

Jamin Mike
Portfolio entry
The Tyee.ca / JHR emerging Indigenous reporter program

Chris Beaver
Portfolio entry
TVO.org / TVO Current Affairs and Documentaries

Jolene Banning
Portfolio entry
Freelancer / Various outlets

The finalists in the APTN / CAJ RECONCILIATION AWARD are:

Paul Webster
Portfolio entry
Freelancer / various publications

Christopher Curtis
Portfolio entry
Montreal Gazette

David P. Ball, Jenna Moon, Kevin Maimann
Jody Wilson-Raybould testimony was ‘Canada’s Indigenous constitution in action,’ say experts
Star Vancouver / Toronto Star / Star Edmonton

Jon Thompson
Portfolio entry
TVO Current Affairs

The finalists in the ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE CHANGE category are:

Charlotte Morritt-Jacobs
Youth Perspectives on Climate Change
APTN National News

Sarah Leavitt
The Disappearing Islands
CBC News – Montreal

Nicoletta Dini, Lama Farhat
Harbour Rising
The Signal / University of King’s College, Halifax

Marco Chown Oved
Undeniable: Life and Death Under the Dome
Toronto Star

Moira Welsh
Undeniable: When the hard rains fall
Toronto Star

The finalists in the STUDENT AWARD OF EXCELLENCE are:

Oscar Beardmore-Gray, Melanie Woods, Annie Rueter, Ryan Patrick Jones, Abi Hayward, Rehmatullah Sheikh, Dustin Patar, Monique Rodrigues, Rithika Shenoy, Stephan Kroener
Hao Luo, Jonathan Ventura, Sebastian Romero Torres, Yuxian Wang, Shumin Wei, Dandan Dong
The Fish You (Don’t Know You) Eat
Global Reporting Program, University of British Columbia / NBC Nightly Films

Alannah Page, Huyana Cyprien, Curtis Larson
Left in the Cold: Canada’s First Internment Camps
Mount Royal University / Calgary Journal

Sarah Chew, Katie Swyers, Martha Currie, Stephanie Liu
Trafficked
RSJ Doc / Ryerson University

Trevor Green, Katie Li, Vartan Bzdikian, Daniel Drigo
To Die For
RSJ Doc / Ryerson University

Zak Vescera
Canvas is tracking your data. What is UBC doing with it?
The Ubyssey / University of British Columbia

Consistent with information in the entry package instructions, judges had the discretion to name between one and five finalists in each award category. There were a total 343 entries for the 2019 awards program.

We thank all those who submitted their work for consideration and congratulate the finalists listed above. Numerous judges once again commented on the astounding quality of work submitted for consideration, as our industry continues to face ongoing challenges— including the extreme challenges we’re facing at this moment.

The Canadian Association of Journalists is a professional organization with over 700 members across Canada. The CAJ’s primary roles are public-interest advocacy work and professional development for its members.

www.caj.ca | www.facebook.com/CdnAssocJournalists | www.twitter.com/CAJ

For further information: Karyn Pugliese, CAJ president – cell, 204-995-1071, karyn@caj.ca; Jason Markusoff, CAJ Awards committee co-chair, jason@caj.ca; Terra Tailleur, CAJ Awards committee co-chair, terra@caj.ca

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