Finalists announced for CJF Jackman Excellence Award

TORONTO, May 2, 2025 /CNW/ - The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) is proud to announce its shortlists for the CJF Jackman Awards for Excellence in Journalism, honouring news organizations that embody exemplary journalism and have a profound positive impact on the communities they serve. Finalists are recognized in two categories: large and small media.

Through this prestigious award, the CJF has since 1996 recognized news organizations that embrace ideals of journalistic excellence – originality, courage, independence, accuracy, social responsibility, accountability and diversity.

"Again in 2024, Canadian news organizations – large and small, new and old – reported stories that impacted communities across the country," says jury chair Christopher Waddell, professor emeritus at Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication. "Our finalists' investigations range from South America to Nunavut, from social determinants of life expectancy to lapses in food-safety regulation.

"As journalism faces intense scrutiny and competition from outlets with dubious journalistic standards, the quality and depth of reporting on display again this year demonstrates the underlying strength and dedication of Canadian journalists and news organizations to stories that resonate with their audiences."

The five finalists in the large media category (more than 50 full-time editorial employees) and the stories and/or series shortlisted for the award are:

• CBC News/The Fifth Estate for Everybody's afraid of Frank by Producer/Director Shelley Ayres, writer Mark Kelley, associate producer Grant LaFleche and video editor Morna Scott Dunne, an in-depth investigation into a powerful and revered figure in Canada, Frank Stronach, facing multiple allegations of sex crimes. Allegations suggested a historic pattern of behaviour from a billionaire who used power and silence to exert influence over women and staff and who created a culture that, according to them, enabled predatory practices for decades.
• Le Devoir for a multi-partinvestigation by Stéphanie Vallet and Ameli Pineda into the Quebec judicial system's handling of individuals found not criminally responsible for their actions, focussing on the complex interaction among judicial institutions, mental health services and law enforcement, while highlighting the areas of dysfunction, the gaps and the ethical issues that arise.
• Global News for The New Reality: The Business of Indigenous Kids in Care, an investigation into the treatment of Indigenous youth in the child-welfare system, revealing startling allegations that the most vulnerable children are being preyed upon by some for-profit group home companies. Considered by some as the "bread and butter" or "cash cows" of a for-profit system, these youth—most often from northern and remote Ontario communities and Nunavut—are ripped from their culture in what has been described as a modern-day residential school system. The investigative team—Carolyn Jarvis, Allison Vuchnich, Andrew Russell, Michael Wrobel, Andrew McIntosh and Craig Offman—was guided by Global News's Indigenous consultant and Networking Managing Editor, Melissa Ridgen, a member of the Red River Métis.
• The Globe and Mail for an investigation into a listeria outbreak at a food processing facility that killed three people and seriously harmed many more. The investigations by Grant Robertson and Kathryn Blaze Baum produced a series of revelations into gaps in Canada's food-safety system and revealed a flawed algorithm that determined which facilities were flagged for inspection.
• W5/CTV News for the Narco Jungle series, by Avery Haines with Jerry Vienneau, Paul Flynn, Angelo Altomare, Eric Szeto and Maria Teresa Scotti, comprising The Darien Gap and Death Train. The investigation plunged viewers into the harrowing reality of two of the world's most treacherous migrant routes: The Darien Gap, an unforgiving jungle that connects Colombia to Panama, and Mexico's notorious Death Train route, where migrants are forced into a deadly game of cat and mouse with cartels and police.

The five finalists in the small media category (fewer than 50 full-time editorial employees) and the stories and/or series shortlisted for the award are:

• CBC Manitobafor Losing Control, "Keep fighting" for change in flawed public trustee system, says Manitoban who spent years in guardianship and Public guardian system could be improved, but needed to protect vulnerable Manitobans: chief psychiatrist, a deep dive by Kristin Annable and Caroline Barghout into Manitoba's Public Guardian and Trustee — a provincial agency that controls the personal and financial decisions of more than 2,700 Manitobans who have been declared mentally incompetent.
• The Investigative Journalism Bureau for its investigation by Rob Cribb, Declan Keogh, Norma Hilton, Scott Martin and Rhythm Sachedeva into toxic lead in the water in Ontario schools and daycares, including a public database containing four years of findings allowing the public to access lead results at any school, daycare or childcare centre across the province.
• The Investigative Journalism Foundation for One address, 76 foreign currency dealers: Inside Canada's money service business "clusters" and Richmond company denies connection to alleged international pyramid scheme, a collaborative series by Cecil Rosner with Zak Vescera and CTV's Adrian Ghobrial that uncovered details of a global scheme defrauding hundreds of thousands of people out of their savings, bringing critical blind spots in Canada's regulation of corporations and money laundering to public attention.
• The Local for Divided City, detailing the first-ever neighbourhood-level analysis of life expectancy in Toronto, which revealed stark disparities across the city. The work included original data analysis of life expectancy at birth for 158 Toronto neighbourhoods, a main story about the findings by Tai Huynh with street photography by Chris Luna, a deep dive into Moss Park, an impoverished inner-city neighbourhood with the lowest life expectancy in the city, by Nicholas Hune-Brown and a feature about a two-kilometre stretch of Yonge Street with one of the highest life expectancies in the world by Rebecca Gao.
• The Narwhal for reporting by Matt Simmons, Mike De Souza and Fatima Syed pulling back the curtain on how decisions get made in government and on the strategies and tactics used by fossil fuel lobbyists, which revealed some of the inner workings of fossil fuel company TC Energy and the tactics it purportedly uses to influence public opinion, media coverage, public policy, government decisions, regulations and legislation.

The 2025 CJF-Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism jury members are

• Christopher Waddell – Chair, Professor Emeritus, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University;
• Manjula Dufresne, Former producer, The National, CBC News Network;
• Wendy Metcalfe, Senior Vice President of Content, Editor-in-Chief, Hearst Connecticut Media Group; and
• Sonali Verma, Executive Consultant, Generative AI, Digital Transformation.

All finalists' story submissions are available on our Awards Page.

The winners will be announced at the CJF Awards ceremony on June 12 at the Royal York Hotel. For tickets, tables and sponsorship opportunities, see contact information below or visit the CJF Awards page.

CIBC is the presenting sponsor of the 2025 CJF Awards.

The 2025 CJF Awards are also supported by Google News Initiative, Labatt Breweries of Canada, McCain Foods, Intact, TD Bank Group, CBC/Radio-Canada, Aritzia, BMO Financial Group, Canada Life, Sobeys, Scotiabank, RBC, FGS Longview Communications, KPMG, Canadian Bankers Association, Canadian Medical Association, Accenture, Aga Khan Development Network, Apple Canada News, Bennett Jones LLP, Blakes, Canadian Women's Foundation, CPP Investments, Loblaw Companies Ltd., Maple Leaf Foods, OLG, Rishi Nolan Strategies, TD Securities, Uber, WSP. In-kind sponsorship is provided by Beehive Design, The Canadian Press, Bespoke Audio Visual, MLSE and Porter Airlines.

About The Canadian Journalism Foundation
Founded in 1990, The Canadian Journalism Foundation promotes, celebrates and facilitates excellence in journalism. The foundation runs a prestigious awards and fellowships program featuring an industry gala where news leaders, journalists and corporate Canada gather to celebrate outstanding journalistic achievement and the value of professional journalism. Through monthly J-Talks, a public speakers' series, the CJF facilitates dialogue among journalists, business people, academics and students about the role of the media in Canadian society and the ongoing challenges for media in the digital era. The foundation also fosters opportunities for journalism education, training and research.

SOURCE The Canadian Journalism Foundation