2024/25
Nominations are now complete and winners will be announced soon!
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.
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.
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.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Our judges consider the following award categories.
National news story of approximately 4,000 words or less on current or breaking news relating to human rights issues.
Documentary or current affairs segments with a runtime of 10-100 minutes relating to a human rights issue.
Online stories featuring at least three elements: text, photos, video, audio, animation and data visualization. 4,000-word maximum.
Filmed news stories with a maximum runtime of no longer than 10 minutes highlighting a human rights issue.
Radio documentaries or current affairs programs with a maximum runtime of approximately 100 minutes highlighting a human rights issue.
Podcast episodes with a maximum runtime of approximately 100 minutes highlighting a human rights issue.
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.*
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.
“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
“Crisis on the Colorado: The Indigenous Fight for Water Rights”
Megan O’Toole and Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
Al Jazeera, 20 April 2023
“Conestoga Student Survives Genocide to Battle Facebook”
Terry Pender
Waterloo Region Record, 3 December 2023
“‘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)
“‘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
Canada Post Strike Update: Ensure your gift reaches us. Call us at 1-800-266-3789 or donate online today » |