A look at winners of the 2024 National Newspaper Awards handed out in Montreal
Arts and Entertainment
Winner: Tavia Grant, The Globe and Mail, for her work on the Vatican's unfulfilled promises to return cultural items that originated in Indigenous communities in Canada — and how Canada lags behind other countries when it comes to national repatriation frameworks.
Finalists: Richie Assaly, Toronto Star, for his portfolio of stories about musicians Mustafa, John Kameel Farah and Elisapie, in which he captured the artists' musical singularity as well as their cultural significance; Charles-Éric Blais-Poulin et Jean Siag, La Presse, for their investigation of Quebec's television production industry, highlighting the weakening of independent production in the province in favour of two major players
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Joan Hollobon Award for Beat Reporting
Winner: Susan Clairmont, Hamilton Spectator, for her exclusive reporting and authoritative analysis as a court reporter.
Finalists: Kate Allen, Toronto Star, for her rigorous and compelling portfolio of work on climate change; Daniel Renaud, La Presse, for his coverage of police affairs and organized crime, done with the knowledge that one of his subjects had placed a bounty on his head.
Stuart M. Robertson Award for Breaking News
Winner: The Globe and Mail, for coverage of one of the defining stories of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games: Canada's women's soccer team and the drone scandal.
Finalists: The Globe and Mail, for coverage of the wildfires that devastated Jasper, as well as the economic implications for the country and who is to blame; Toronto Star, for coverage of the summer storm that flooded the city, knocked out power to thousands and left millions of dollars of damage in its wake.
Business
Winners: Robert Cribb, Max Binks-Collier, Masih Khalatbari, Charlie Buckley and Habiba Nosheen, Toronto Star/Investigative Journalism Bureau, for their reporting on Canada's 'exploitative' clinical trial industry, where study participants say they're incentivized to lie — even about medications' side effects.
Finalists: Naimul Karim, Financial Post, for his work on Canada's changing immigration laws and the impact they're having on thousands of highly skilled, and sometimes desperate, foreign workers; Matthew Van Dongen, Hamilton Spectator, for his ongoing reporting on real estate investment firm Forge & Foster, and its ever-widening circle of financial woes for investors, customers and homeowners.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Mary Ann Shadd Cary Award for Columns
Winner: Isabelle Hachey, La Presse, for columns on a stalker who falsified claims in order to receive cheques from an organization that compensates victims of criminal acts, MAID and dementia, and lessons from Air India Flight 182.
Finalists: Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot, La Presse, for columns on Quebec's decisions to reduce the immigration threshold, spend $870 million on a new roof for Olympic Stadium, and deny a highly qualified foreign teacher the opportunity to teach; Tanya Talaga, The Globe and Mail, for columns on Canada's betrayal of residential school survivors, the need to stand against residential school denialism, and the legacy of Murray Sinclair.
Editorial Cartooning
Winner: Michael de Adder, The Chronicle Herald/The Globe and Mail
Finalists: Patrick LaMontagne, Calgary Herald/Calgary Sun; Gabrielle Drolet, The Globe and Mail
Claude Ryan Award for Editorial Writing
Winner: Peter McKnight, Toronto Star, for editorials about Medical Assistance in Dying, the health disparity between Inuit people and the rest of Canadians, and problems with Ontario's approach to screening criminal charges.
Finalists: Stéphanie Grammond, La Presse, for editorials on what a second Trump presidency will mean for Canada, the Air Canada labour dispute, and Quebec's long-term plan for housing and care for its aging population; Richard Warnica, Toronto Star, for editorials on the strip-searching of children in Ontario's youth detention centres, the Jasper wildfires and human responsibility in the face of climate change, and Olympic swimmer Penny Oleksiak.
Explanatory Work
Winner: Zosia Bielski, The Globe and Mail, for her nuanced exploration of Canadian laws that criminalize HIV non-disclosure — and put Canada out of step with modern science and the rest of the developed world.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Finalists: Marco Chown Oved, Steve Russell and Lance McMillan, Toronto Star, for their behind-the-wheel look at taking an EV on a road trip and a broader exploration of how EVs are spurring the creation of new businesses; Amy Dempsey Raven, Toronto Star, for explaining why rats are proliferating in Toronto and how an organized rodent mitigation strategy could limit the public health threat.
Feature Photo
Winner: Kari Medig, The Globe and Mail, for his photo of double amputee Oleksandr Budko and the Wild Bear Vets program, created to support veterans with PTSD.
Finalists: Shane Gross, The Globe and Mail, for his photo of a curious beluga whale trying to get a taste of his camera in its natural habitat in Churchill, Manitoba; David Lipnowski, The Canadian Press, for his photo of people giving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the finger while posing for a selfie at the Folklorama Festival in Winnipeg.
Norman Webster Award for International Reporting
Winner: Mark MacKinnon, The Globe and Mail, for his comprehensive, human-driven reporting on the Russian war on Ukraine.
Finalists: Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun/The Province, for her reporting from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Southeast Asia on the international reach of B.C.'s criminal organizations; Jean-Thomas Léveillé, La Presse, for his coverage of the environmental and social consequences of a recent oil boom in Guyana.
George Brown Award for Investigations
Winners: Robert Cribb, Wendy-Ann Clarke, Declan Keogh and Owen Thompson, Toronto Star/Investigative Journalism Bureau, for their reporting on a program meant to fund mental health care for First Nations and Inuit people but is instead failing them.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Finalists: Katrina Clarke and Jeff Hamilton, Winnipeg Free Press, for their months-long investigation into the state of child care in Manitoba and the underlying issues that put kids and families at risk; Terry Pender, Waterloo Region Record, for exposing the role of the Mennonite Central Committee in bringing thousands of Nazi war criminals to Canada after the Second World War.
Journalist of the Year
Winner: Aaron Beswick, The Chronicle Herald, for his coverage of the lawlessness in Nova Scotia's lobster and eel fisheries, including poaching, boats and buildings being burned, and the emergence of organized crime and international smuggling operations.
E. Cora Hind Award for Local Reporting
Winner: Aaron Beswick, The Chronicle Herald, for his coverage of the lawlessness in Nova Scotia's lobster and eel fisheries, including poaching, boats and buildings being burned, and the emergence of organized crime and international smuggling operations.
Finalists: Tyler Olsen, Fraser Valley Current, for his in-depth look at why a B.C. community news empire went bust and what it means for local readers and the company's own employees; Julia Peterson, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, for their all-encompassing coverage of the two inquests into the James Smith Cree Nation mass killings: one for the 11 victims and one for Myles Sanderson, who died in custody four days after killing them.
William Southam Award for Long Feature
Winner: Brandon Harder, Regina Leader-Post, for his painstaking re-creation of what happened when police went undercover to wring out a confession from a cold-case murderer.
Finalists: Emma McIntosh, The Narwhal, for braiding science with storytelling and vivid descriptions to bring the story of Canada's endangered southernmost caribou herd to life; Anne-Marie Provost, La Presse, for her feature about the four-season road that connected Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk in 2017, giving Canadians access by car to the Arctic Ocean, and how communities are dealing with the influx of tourists.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
News Photo
Winner: Carlos Osorio, Reuters, for his aerial photo of the message 'We Will Return' spray-painted on the vacated grounds of a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Toronto.
Finalists: Sammy Kogan, The Globe and Mail, for capturing a moment of profound grief and loss that also serves as a stark reminder of the devastating toll of gun violence; Jim Wells, Calgary Herald/Calgary Sun, for his dramatic photo of a man working to free a deer that had fallen through the ice and into the bitterly cold Bow River
Photo Story
Winner: Carlos Osorio, Reuters, for his coverage of the U.S. election.
Finalists: Goran Tomasevic, The Globe and Mail, for documenting the gang takeover of Haiti; Martin Tremblay, La Presse, for his photos from Syria and the fallout from the Assad regime.
John Wesley Dafoe Award for Politics
Winner: Rachel Mendleson and R.J. Johnston, Toronto Star, for their coverage of Pickering city council and how the alt-right movement is disrupting libraries, school boards and other local democratic institutions across Canada.
Finalists: Patrice Bergeron, La Presse Canadienne, for his work on Premier François Legault's CAQ government monetizing access to its ministers through fundraising cocktails; Katia Gagnon, La Presse, for her 5,000-word portrait of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who has breathed new life into the Parti Québécois.
Presentation/Design
Winners: Timothy Moore, The Globe and Mail, for his portfolio of work on science and sailing, breaking's debut as an Olympic sport, and how to master skating later in life.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Finalists: McKenna Hart and Tania Pereira, Toronto Star, for their portfolio of work on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, Toronto's top influencers of 2024, and the struggles of TTC riders; Pascal Roux, La Presse, for his portfolio of work on a 150-year-old wreck mysteriously surfacing off the coast of Newfoundland, the 50th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons, and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
John Honderich Award for Project of the Year
Winner: Toronto Star, for their work on childhood sexual abuse and the complicated legacy of Canadian literary hero Alice Munro.
Finalists: Calgary Herald/Calgary Sun, for 'Squeezed,' a months-long look at inflationary and affordability issues ranging from housing and utilities to groceries, family expenses and pets; La Presse, for their extensive exploration of fatigue, its impact on our quality of life, and whether it's possible (or even beneficial) to slow down.
Bob Levin Award for Short Feature
Winner: Jordan Himelfarb, Toronto Star, for his feature on 18-year-old world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and the dawning of a new golden age in chess.
Finalists: Dakshana Bascaramurty, The Globe and Mail, for her story from Peggy's Cove, N.S., where they've cracked down on risk-taking tourists in search of the perfect selfie; Naomi Skwarna, Toronto Star, for her reflection on an all-but-forgotten quilt that spans 30 feet in Spadina Station and the labour of love that went into it.
Special Topic: Journalism in a Language other than French or English
Winners: Venus Ho, Cissy Hsu, Henry Wong, Cliff Yau and Norman Sin, Sing Tao, for their month-long investigation into the sale of fraudulent mooncakes at Asian food markets in Toronto and the impact on Hong Kong diaspora consumers.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Finalists: Gord Howard, Shanshan Tian, Krista Klassen, Andrea Gray, Corey Larocque, Nunatsiaq News, for their coverage of the Nunavut Quest, a 370-km route from Arctic Bay to Pond Inlet, which involved a group of young Inuit correspondents and culminated in a 20-page commemorative edition; Sing Tao, for their ongoing coverage of Canada's 'lifeboat' program and the problems encountered by applicants and 'illegal stayers' from Hong Kong, caught up in processing delays.
Sports
Winners: Greg Mercer, Nancy Macdonald and Simon Houpt, The Globe and Mail, for their coverage of Canada Soccer in the wake of the spying scandal at the Paris Olympic Games.
Finalists: Paige Taylor White, IndigiNews, for her series on an East Van women's basketball team and their experience at the 64th annual All Native Basketball Tournament in Tsimshian territories; Ken Warren and Tony Caldwell, Ottawa Citizen/Ottawa Sun, for their feature on an Ottawa man who uses saws and shovels to carve out a lane in the frozen river for a daily swim in zero-degree temperatures — in a standard bathing suit.
Sports Photo
Winners: Olivier Jean, La Presse, for capturing a spontaneous moment of joy between Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown after they won Olympic gold in the men's 4×100-metre relay in Paris.
Finalists: Nathan Denette, The Canadian Press, for his photo of Canada's high-speed men's pursuit team at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games; Frank Gunn, The Canadian Press, for his photo of Toronto Argonauts receiver Dejon Brissett flipping in the air after being upended by Winnipeg's Tyrell Ford during the Grey Cup.
Sustained News Coverage
Winners: The Globe and Mail, for their year-long exploration of the root causes of housing shortages and creative ideas that could help solve the crisis.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Finalists: Caroline Touzin, Ariane Lacoursière, Gabrielle Duchaine and Katia Gagnon, La Presse, for their investigative work on the systemic problems within Quebec's youth protection services; Toronto Star, for shining an unrelenting spotlight on one of the most dramatic criminal cases in recent memory: the problematic prosecution of Umar Zameer.
Special Recognition Citation
Globe Photojournalism Summit, for bringing together 46 photojournalists from across Canada for presentations by industry experts, roundtables, a panel discussion and a celebration of attendees' work.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
12 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney set to visit birthplace in N.W.T.
FORT SMITH – Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to stop today in the town where he was born as he travels across the Northwest Territories. Carney also spent his early childhood in Fort Smith, located south of Yellowknife along the Alberta boundary, before he moved with his family to Edmonton. He is scheduled to talk to locals in Fort Smith about affordability and food insecurity, and discuss wildfires with community leaders, before heading to Inuvik in the territory's northwest corner. He is set to co-host the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee on Thursday with Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a national organization representing Inuit. It will be Carney's second meeting with Indigenous groups on Ottawa's major projects bill. The legislation would give Ottawa the ability to fast-track projects deemed to be in the national interest by sidestepping some review requirements. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025.
Toronto Star
7 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Ozzy Osbourne's failed Maple Leaf Gardens recording session is just one of the wild Toronto stories about the late metal icon
John 'Ozzy' Osbourne, the madcap singer and heavy metal legend who died Tuesday at 76, had a warm, occasionally raucous relationship with Toronto. Osbourne co-founded Black Sabbath in Birmingham, England in 1968; the band made its first Canadian appearance at the Beggars' Banquet Festival in Toronto three years later. Toronto Star reviewer Wilder Penfield may not have been impressed — he sniffed that the group's off-key singing was 'like a hangover from cheap wine' — but within a decade, Sabbath was one of the biggest bands in the world, buoyed by the success of albums like 'Black Sabbath,' 'Paranoid' and 'Masters Of Reality.'
Winnipeg Free Press
8 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba signs deal with Saskatchewan to bolster trade through Port of Churchill
Manitoba's experience as a leader in reconciliation will give it a leg up when it comes time for Canada to fast-track megaprojects, Premier Wab Kinew said Tuesday after signing an agreement with Saskatchewan to expand trade through the Port of Churchill. 'We're working a ton on making sure we have consensus with the Indigenous nations for the megaprojects that we want to pursue to build up the Manitoba and Canadian economy,' Kinew said. Twenty-nine First Nations and 12 northern communities own the Arctic Gateway Group, which operates the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway that connects it to the rest of the continent. Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, left, talks with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe at the meeting of Canada's premiers in Huntsville, Ont., Monday. 'This ability to get to tidewater and seemingly having the ability to open that up, maybe, year-round because of newer ships that we have access to today, is really exciting for Manitoba,' Kinew told reporters via a Zoom call from Huntsville, Ont. There, Canada's first ministers are gathering to discuss a strategy to respond to the trade war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump. The memorandum of understanding Kinew signed with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe on Tuesday says the Arctic Gateway Group will invest in port and rail assets and lengthen the shipping season, which typically runs from July to November, to support increased freight capacity. Chris Avery, the chief executive officer of AGG, said they're working with the University of Manitoba and other academic and private-sector groups to update data about the shipping season, which has been getting longer over time. 'What the University of Manitoba tells us is that based on their data from over the past 40 years and what they see in their studies of the sea ice — they expect that the shipping seasons can be lengthened already without icebreakers or anything else, given climate change.' He said U of M is gathering and studying the data, which can be shared with shippers and insurance companies, he said. 'One of the impediments to extending the shipping season is because they're working off of old historical data of the shipping season and the ice patterns and so on.' New data from the U of M indicates the shipping season will be lengthened to as much as six months without the use of icebreakers, Avery said. In February, Manitoba announced $36.4 million would be given to AGG over two years for capital infrastructure projects at the port. The memo of understanding says the province will try to secure federal infrastructure funding and regulatory support to improve connectivity to northern markets, a news release said. 'When we're talking about nation-building, if we help Alberta, Saskatchewan, our other neighbors and fellow provinces and territories access the European Union, that can be really good for all of us.'–Wab Kinew The five-year plan requires Saskatchewan to 'mobilize' commodity producers and exporters through its trade offices and regional industry partners, the release said. Streamlining access to ports such as Churchill will allow for greater access to international markets, Moe said in the release. 'It helps us to unlock mining in the north, more agricultural exports in the south, manufacturing products right across our whole province,' Kinew told reporters Tuesday. 'When we're talking about nation-building, if we help Alberta, Saskatchewan, our other neighbors and fellow provinces and territories access the European Union, that can be really good for all of us.' On Tuesday, Manitoba did not sign an MOU with Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta to use Ontario steel to build an oil and gas pipeline and a port on James Bay as part of a national energy corridor. Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said Manitoba 'missed out on a much, much larger opportunity.' 'Why wouldn't you negotiate on the ground floor for a project that could bring massive economic opportunities and prosperity to the province?' Khan asked. Kinew said he's had 'excellent meetings' with the three premiers involved and that he didn't sign their MOU because Manitoba doesn't have the needed consensus from its Indigenous nations to do so. 'Our approach in Manitoba involves extensive leg work with Indigenous nations at the front end of the project process,' Manitoba's first First Nations premier said. 'I believe spending that time to build consensus and then to invest the energy necessary to maintain that consensus throughout the construction phase of a project, will actually see us get to the finish line as quickly or quicker than everyone else.' Dylan Robertson / Free Press Files Twenty-nine First Nations and 12 northern communities own the Arctic Gateway Group, which operates the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway that connects it to the rest of the continent. Kinew said the province hasn't announced a new megaproject proposal yet. 'This is work that we're undertaking carefully, strategically and quietly behind the scenes,' the premier said. 'We would love to have the federal government as an enthusiastic partner (but)…the partners that we need are the collective Indigenous nations of Manitoba that are represented by governments.' Kinew said he doesn't want Manitoba to be pitted against other provinces, but noted that Churchill has the advantage over James Bay because it is a long-running northern, deep-water port with infrastructure and Indigenous partners. A supply chain expert who teaches at the U of M Asper School of Business said the proposals for a major port at the far south end of James Bay in Ontario centre on the community of Moosonee, that has port facilities for barges, but not ships that require deep water. Like Churchill, it has rail access but no road, said Robert Parsons. The proposal to develop the James Bay port into an energy corridor 'is really more on the wish-list side,' he said. Parsons compared it to NeeStanNan's proposal to develop a liquefied natural gas terminal at Port Nelson on Hudson Bay in Manitoba. 'Both will require quite a bit of work.' The chief of one of the First Nations behind the Port Nelson LNG proposal welcomed Manitoba's agreement with Saskatchewan to bolster the Port of Churchill. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. 'Churchill has always been there and we support Churchill and we're also part owners of the railway,' said Clarence Easter of Chemawawin Cree Nation, one of 10 First Nations behind the NeeStaNan energy corridor. NeeStaNan has been licensed by the federal energy regulator to explore the development of exporting liquefied natural gas. Easter said he supports federal legislation to fast-track infrastructure projects such as energy corridors. 'We cannot keep doing things that we've been doing in the past because it hasn't worked before… We can't keep counting on federal handouts, provincial handouts to survive and keep living the way we've been living,' the chief said. 'The opportunity is there for us to step up.' Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
