Canadian Association of Journalists celebrates excellence in Canadian journalism from the past year at annual awards gala Français
CALGARY, AB, May 31, 2025 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) capped off its 2025 national conference weekend by presenting this year's CAJ Awards, Canada's preeminent national investigative journalism awards program, run by and for journalists, at a gala dinner held earlier this evening at the Delta Hotel in downtown Calgary.
Jeff Hamilton and , from the Winnipeg Free Press, were awarded this year's McGillivray Award, which recognizes the program's best investigative journalism published or broadcast in 2024.
The McGillivray jury concluded that Hamilton and Clarke's exposé of the many cracks in Manitoba's childcare system bore all the hallmarks of excellent investigative work — it brought clarity to complex subjects and used vivid personal examples to convey systemic flaws.
Hamilton and Clarke were also recognized as winners in the Written News category.
The CAJ Awards were presented in a bilingual ceremony hosted by Joelle Tomlinson (Global News) and Tiphanie Roquette (Radio-Canada). Finalists who were unable to attend the in-person event were invited to participate remotely. The entire ceremony was live-streamed on the CAJ's YouTube channel.
This year's program marked the first time the CAJ has celebrated excellent journalism from nominees with gold and silver awards.
Here are the gold and silver winners, chosen from a record 540 entries across 18 categories.
The recipients in the WRITTEN NEWS category are:
GOLD
Jeff Hamilton, Katrina Clarke
Building blocks, crumbling foundation
Winnipeg Free Press
SILVER (tie)
Grant Robertson, Kathryn Blaze Baum
The algorithm
The Globe and Mail
Wendy Gillis, Jennifer Pagliaro
The invisible girl
Toronto Star
The recipients in the HUGO RODRIGUES AWARD FOR COMMUNITY NEWS (formerly Community Written) category are:
GOLD
Heather Wright
York 1 environmental
The Independent of Petrolia and Central Lambton
SILVER
Jessica Lee
Grizzly bears back in crosshairs
Rocky Mountain Outlook
The recipients in the BROADCAST OVER FIVE MINUTES category are:
GOLD
Brandi Morin, Geordie Day
The Apache Stronghold standing in the way of a massive copper mine
Ricochet Media
SILVER
Brittany Guyot, Tom Fennario
Food for profit
APTN Investigates
The recipients in the BROADCAST UNDER FIVE MINUTES category are:
GOLD
Romain Schue, Thomas Bignon
Dans les coulisses des traversées clandestines avec des passeurs indiens
Radio-Canada Info
SILVER
Davide Gentile, Daniel Boily, Jacques Racine, Ivanoh Demers
Une plaie de lit fatale pour un tétraplégique
Radio-Canada Info
The recipients in the COMMUNITY BROADCAST category are:
GOLD
Lela Savić, Emmanuelle Moussa
Pas tout Montréal
La Converse
SILVER
Taryn Grant
On the doorstep
CBC Atlantic Voice
The recipients in the DATA JOURNALISM category are:
GOLD
Valérie Ouellet, Mike Crawley, Aloysius Wong, Andreas Wesley
Canada's international student spike was blamed on private colleges. Here's what really happened
CBC News - Investigative Unit
SILVER
Sylvie Fournier, Daniel Tremblay, Benoît Michaud, Jo-Ann Demers
Eglise catholique inc.
Radio-Canada Info
The recipients in the ONLINE MEDIA category are:
GOLD
Chris Beaver, Katie O'Connor, Jasmine El Kurd, Pam Palmater
NDN POV
TVO Today
SILVER
Robert Cribb, Declan Keogh, Norma Hilton, Scott Martin, Rhythm Sachdeva
Lead in drinking water
Investigative Journalism Bureau
The recipients in the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION JOURNALISM category are:
GOLD
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
SILVER
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 recipients in the PHOTOJOURNALISM category are:
GOLD
Martin Tremblay
New hope for Syria
La Presse
SILVER
Carlos Osorio
Portfolio
Reuters, The Globe and Mail
The recipients in the SCOOP category are:
GOLD
Anaïs Elboujdaïni
Le Canada demande à des travailleurs de la santé de Gaza s'ils ont soigné des membres du Hamas
La Converse
SILVER
Bethany Lindsay
One third of B.C.'s 'publicly funded substance-use treatment beds' don't provide any treatment
Investigative Journalism Foundation
The recipients in the DAILY EXCELLENCE category are:
GOLD
Shannon Waters
What on Earth just happened with B.C.'s carbon tax?
The Narwhal
SILVER
Suzanne Rent
Build Nova Scotia gives Atlantic Road Construction and Paving deadline after company puts barriers at trail in Dartmouth Cove
Halifax Examiner
The recipients in the WRITTEN FEATURE category are:
GOLD
Rachel Browne
A killer among them
Maclean's
SILVER
Fabrice de Pierrebourg
Reconstruire une cité millénaire
L'actualité
The recipients in the COMMUNITY WRITTEN FEATURE category are:
GOLD
Tyler Harper
In every Nelson he visits, Jeff Truesdell finds the man he loved
Nelson Star
SILVER
Liny Lamberink
Regrowth
CBC North
The recipients in the JHR / CAJ AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING are:
GOLD
Robert Cribb, Declan Keogh, Wendy-Ann Clarke, Owen Thompson
Mind games
Investigative Journalism Bureau, Toronto Star, TVO
SILVER
Gabrielle Duchaine
La maison des horreurs
La Presse
The recipients in the CWA CANADA / CAJ AWARD FOR LABOUR REPORTING are:
GOLD
Natalia Rivero Gómez
Reporting on working conditions in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
The Rover
SILVER
Emma Arkell
Canadian teachers face harassment in wake of 'parental rights' policies
Xtra Magazine
The recipients of the JHR / CAJ EMERGING INDIGENOUS JOURNALIST AWARD are:
GOLD
Tchadas Leo
Portfolio
CHEK News
SILVER
Crystal Greene
Portfolio
Ricochet Media, IndigiNews Media, Pivot Media
The recipients in the ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE CHANGE AWARD category are:
GOLD
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
The recipients in the NATIONAL NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL/CAJ STUDENT JOURNALISM AWARD OF EXCELLENCE are:
GOLD
Nalyn Tindall
Getting by on gig work: The hidden costs of 'easy' money
The Eyeopener, Toronto Metropolitan University
SILVER
Om Shanbhag
The driving dilemma: How nursing students struggle to access placements
The Western Gazette, Western University
Funding for this award is generously provided by the Fraser MacDougall Journalism Prize Fund
The CAJ would like to thank the awards judges — the experienced current and former journalists who willingly volunteered their time and efforts to review all the entries and name the finalists and winners in each category. This awards program doesn't function without journalists and their newsrooms stepping forward to submit their work for review and consideration, or the judges who take on the task of reviewing that work.
The CAJ congratulates all the recipients and finalists and thanks all those who submitted entries for consideration. Many judges once again noted the excellent quality and breadth of work contained within the pieces submitted into the program.
Journalists continue to produce striking, important, and meaningful work that educates, informs, exposes, uncovers, affects change, and makes our communities better places to live. The CAJ is proud to play a role in recognizing the best of this work on an annual basis.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
43 minutes ago
- CTV News
Officers involved in fatal shooting of Hamilton man used reasonable force: SIU
Erixon Kabera is shown in a handout photo. Kabera was fatally shot in an apartment building by Hamilton, Ont. police on Nov. 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO Ontario's police watchdog says two Hamilton officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man in an apartment building last year used reasonable force in the face of what they believed was an imminent threat of serious harm or death. The director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, says he has determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe the officers who opened fire on a 43-year-old man on Nov. 10 committed a criminal offence. The man's family has identified him as Erixon Kabera, a father of three who they said dedicated his life to his family and community. When it initially announced its investigation last year, the SIU said Hamilton police were responding to reports of a man 'acting in a threatening manner' and there was an 'exchange of gunfire' with police. The agency later said it did not appear the man had discharged a firearm before he was shot. In a report released today, the SIU says the man was holding a replica handgun and raised it in the direction of the officers as he walked towards them in the building's hallway, causing one of the officers to fire as many as eight rounds. The report says the man continued to walk toward the officers, and the other officer fired six to eight shots. Both officers lost their footing as they walked backward and stumbled to the ground, the SIU says. The officer who first opened fire lost her gun as she fell and used a stun gun, and moments later, the other officer fired another seven or eight shots, it says. The man collapsed and later died in hospital. An autopsy found he died from multiple gunshot wounds, the report says. Martino said the officers 'honestly believed they were looking at an actual gun' and 'their misapprehension was a reasonable one.' It looked like a gun, the man held it like a gun and a neighbour had just told the officers they believed he had a gun with him, Martino wrote. Under the circumstances, it made sense that the officers would use their guns to protect themselves 'from what they justifiably believed was an imminent threat of grievous bodily harm or death,' the director said. One of the officers told SIU investigators he believed the man had been the first to open fire, but it appears he mistook the other officer's initial gunfire for shots coming from the man, Martino wrote, describing it as 'an honest but mistaken belief in the highly charged atmosphere that prevailed.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025. Written by Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Hamilton police officers who shot dozens of times at Erixon Kabera killing him cleared by SIU
Social Sharing Two Hamilton police officers who shot and killed Erixon Kabera last November won't be criminally charged, says the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). On Nov. 9, two officers shot as many as 24 bullets at Kabera in his apartment building hallway before he collapsed, Ontario's police watchdog said in its report released Friday. He had been holding a replica hand gun, which officers mistook for a real firearm. Kabera, a 43-year-old father of three, was taken to the Hamilton General Hospital with eight gunshot wounds, including some in his back, and pronounced dead in the early hours of Nov. 10. "On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that either subject official committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant's death," said SIU director Joseph Martino in the report. Family members, friends and members of the Rwandan community in Canada, of which Kabera was part, have been calling for answers from police and the SIU since his death. The Hamilton Police Service said in a statement late Friday morning it recognizes "the profound impact this incident has had on Erixon's family, the broader community and our members." "For now, our Service remains committed to meeting with Erixon's family and Rwandan community leaders to find a path forward whenever the community is ready," HPS said in the statement. One officer involved declined to be interviewed One of the two officers involved declined to be interviewed by the SIU, as is her legal right, but did release her notes, Martino noted. The other officer was interviewed, but didn't release his notes. The SIU also interviewed several witnesses, reviewed 911 calls, police radio recordings, forensic and physical evidence and a coroner's report. According to the SIU report, police were called at about 4:30 p.m. Nov. 9 to the fifth floor of a Main Street W. apartment building. A resident had reported that a man had been knocking on their door and appeared to be holding a handgun. "He would proceed to enter and exit his apartment several times, approaching the door to the [resident's] apartment ... to knock on the door, turn the door handle, and asked to be let in," said the report. The report does not name Kabera, but rather refers to him as "the complainant." When the two officers arrived, they found the man, Kabera, in the hallway. They called out to him as he entered his apartment and locked the door, but then came out again. "The complainant was holding what appeared to be a handgun in his right hand at waist level, pointed at the floor," said the report. "The object in the complainant's possession was not an actually firearm, although it did give the appearance of being a genuine semi-automatic pistol." He raised the replica gun in the officers' direction and walked toward them, said the report. "He was immediately met with gunfire from the officers," said the SIU. The officers shot multiple rounds as they retreated, but the bullets "had no effect on the complainant who continued to advance on the officers," the report said. One of the officers used a taser on him as well. Then the other officer fired seven or eight more shots, and Kabera collapsed and landed on his back. Police performed first aid on him before paramedics arrived. One of the officers was bleeding after being wounded in the back of his head. He had mistakenly thought Kabera had fired that shot, but it actually came from the other officer. "An honest but mistaken belief in the highly charged atmosphere that prevailed," Martino said. The initial statement on Nov. 10 from the SIU had said there was an exchange of gunfire between a man and police — but the next day, the SIU issued another statement clarifying that, based on "further investigation," it did "not appear that the man discharged a firearm," but rather two police officers did. Martino determined the officers believed they had to fire their weapons at Kabera to protect themselves and that he was holding a gun. "A further retreat or withdrawal might have been available to the officers, but neither was viable given the speed at which events unfolded and the presence of fifth-floor residents, whose safety would have been imperiled," the director wrote. Family waiting for answers for more than 200 days Kabera's death prompted outcry from his family, friends, members of the Black community in Hamilton and beyond. He was the oldest of five siblings and a father of three teenage children. His brother Parfait Karekezi previously said Kabera was "everything" to him. "Erixon was not only my brother, he was my friend. He was my role model. He was my mentor," he previously told CBC Hamilton. He said Kabera was his "confidant," and someone "who had all my secrets." Since Nov. 10, Karekezi and other members of Kabera's family and community have been calling for transparency around what happened that night and accountability for his death. On its website, the SIU says it aims to complete investigations within 120 days, but it took more than 200 for Kabera's report to come out. "In some cases, including death cases, investigators may need to wait for outside experts and agencies to complete reports such as toxicology and pathology reports," a spokesperson with the SIU told CBC Hamilton previously. "We understand how difficult waiting can be for persons involved in our investigations, including the families of those who have been seriously injured or who have died." In Friday's SIU report, the police watchdog said Kabera's postmortem examination was received from the Coroner's Office on May 12. 'They killed him like a dog' Yves Ikobe, another brother of Kabera's, told CBC previously his brother had "multiple" gunshot wounds and broken bones. He also said there were at least six or seven bullets that hit the wall, from what he saw in Kabera's apartment. "They killed him like a dog," he said. Ikobe was one of the around 400 people who gathered outside of Hamilton's City Hall in the days after Kabera's death to mourn him. "He was a very kind soul," Ikobe told the crowd that night.
CTV News
21 hours ago
- CTV News
Video shows shooting at Hamilton Mountain business
The Hamilton Police Service is investigating a shooting that occurred in the area of Upper Ottawa Street and Unsworth Drive on May 27, 2025. The Hamilton Police Service is investigating a shooting that occurred in the area of Upper Ottawa Street and Unsworth Drive on May 27, 2025. Surveillance video released by police shows the moment a motorcyclist drives up to a Hamilton area business last month and fires a single gunshot before driving away. Hamilton police shared the video on Thursday, but say the shooting happened over a week earlier, on May 27, and was not reported to investigators until after damage was discovered at the business. Police say the shooting occurred in the area of Upper Ottawa Street and Unsworth Drive on the Hamilton Mountain at around 4:50 a.m. Investigators are looking to identify the suspect and motorcycle seen in the surveillance video. They were last seen travelling northbound on Hempstead Drive toward Nebo Road. Police are asking anyone information is asked to contact them at 905-546-4883 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
