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2024/25

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CANADA MEDIA AWARDS

Nominations are now complete and winners will be announced soon!

THE 30TH ANNUAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CANADA MEDIA AWARDS

Nominations are now open for the 30th annual Amnesty International Canada Media Awards.

First handed out in 1996, the Media Awards recognize excellence in human rights reporting by Canada-based journalists and Canadian journalists reporting abroad. Past winners include some of the most celebrated Canadian reporters of the past three decades, such as the CBC’s Ana Maria Tremonti and former Globe and Mail foreign correspondent Stephanie Nolen, as well independent and student journalists whose outstanding work elevated them to the national stage.

To be eligible for consideration, entries must have been published or broadcast in Canada between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. Please review the categories below as you prepare your submissions. 

Nominations are open in multiple categories, with a maximum of three total submissions per person. Journalists may nominate their own work or that of others (with express written permission).

A distinguished jury will evaluate entries based on journalistic excellence, depth of storytelling, amplification of voices at the heart of the issue, and the framing of solution.

For more information about the Amnesty International Canada Media Awards, please contact Cory Ruf, Media Officer, Amnesty International Canadian Section (English-Speaking), 416-363-9933 x 344, mediaawards@amnesty.ca.

Submissions will now be accepted until 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 17, 2025.

Amnesty International Canada is thrilled to announce the winners of its 30th annual Media Awards, a celebration of the best human rights reporting by Canada-based journalists and Canadian journalists working abroad.

Among the winners are richly reported, expertly told stories digging into the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s struggle to defend its rights and territory, the heartrending plight of a Hazara Afghani family dreaming of freedom and safety in Canada, and the bewildering disappearance and death, and growing legacy, of human rights defender Karima Baloch.

Every year we invite reporters, editors, student journalists and media outlets across Canada to send their best human-rights-focused work.

Amnesty International Canada will hand out the honours on Thursday, October 19 in Toronto at the organisation’s first in-person Media Awards ceremony since 2019.

2024/2025 Winners

Category Here

© Credit

“Breaking the Silence”
Kena Shah

This Magazine, November-December 2023 Issue

Category Here

© Credit

“Breaking the Silence”
Kena Shah

This Magazine, November-December 2023 Issue

Category Here

© Credit

“Breaking the Silence”
Kena Shah

This Magazine, November-December 2023 Issue

Media Awards Judges

Our distinguished panel of judges evaluates the submissions. Entries are assessed on the quality and depth of the reporting and storytelling, how they centre the voices and agency of the people and communities at the heart of the issue, and how they present possible solutions.

Judge
Name

Megha Bahree is an award-winning journalist who has reported stories from across Asia and the U.S. Currently she’s the Americas business editor for Al Jazeera Digital.

Judge Name

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Media Award Categories

Our judges consider the following award categories.

National Written News Story

National news story of approximately 4,000 words or less on current or breaking news relating to human rights issues.

Long-Form Video

Documentary or current affairs segments with a runtime of 10-100 minutes relating to a human rights issue.

Mixed Media

Online stories featuring at least three elements: text, photos, video, audio, animation and data visualization. 4,000-word maximum.

Short-Form Video

Filmed news stories with a maximum runtime of no longer than 10 minutes highlighting a human rights issue. 

Long-Form Radio

Radio documentaries or current affairs programs with a maximum runtime of approximately 100 minutes highlighting a human rights issue.

Long-Form Podcast

Podcast episodes with a maximum runtime of approximately 100 minutes highlighting a human rights issue.

Local/Alternative Media

Current affairs or breaking news stories of 4,000 words or less relating to a human rights issue. Alternative media denotes publications that are not major private or publicly funded media outlets.*

Post-Secondary Youth

Text, audio, video or mixed media stories by post-secondary school students in Canada about a human rights issue. It must be published or broadcast by a media outlet associated with a post-secondary institution.

*Alternative publications often have mandates to highlight stories and perspectives that are overlooked or underrepresented in the mainstream press.

2023/2024 Award Winners

Local/Alternative

“Breaking the Silence”
Kena Shah

This Magazine, November-December 2023 Issue

Long-Form Audio

“On the Frontlines of the Toxic Drug Crisis”
Jennifer Chevalier, Catherine Cullen, Kristen Everson, Emma Godmere, and Christian Paas-Lang

CBC Radio’s The House with Catherine Cullen, 7 October 2023

Mixed Media

“Crisis on the Colorado: The Indigenous Fight for Water Rights”
Megan O’Toole and Jillian Kestler-D’Amours

Al Jazeera, 20 April 2023

National Written News

“Conestoga Student Survives Genocide to Battle Facebook”
Terry Pender

Waterloo Region Record, 3 December 2023

Post-Secondary Youth

‘We Want Them All’: Syria’s Detained and Forcibly Disappeared”
Mimi Allef

The Link, 21 March 2023
(byline is a pseudonym used to protect the author’s safety and that of their loved ones)

Short-Form Video

“‘Turn that Violence into Art’: Natteal Battiste on the Transformative Power of Boxing”
Donnovan Bennett, Carla Antonio, Tori Weeks, and Dario Lozano-Thornton

Sportsnet, 27 September 2023

Previous Award Winners

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