Media Awards

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.

This year marks the 30th cycle of the Amnesty International Canada Media Awards. The awards were established in 1996 by longtime Media Officer John Tackaberry, who recognized the power of the press to not only inform, but to provoke action. “I hoped the Amnesty International Canada Media Awards would stimulate more human rights coverage in the media,” Tackaberry recalls, “and alert our own members to its importance as a way to spread information and prompt public action.”

Richly reported, expressively told stories about the exploitation of food-app workers in Toronto, young Chinese-born Uyghurs living in limbo and dreaming of a better life in Canada, and the forces behind — and grassroots community responses to — eye-watering grocery prices in northern First Nations are among the winners of the 30th annual Amnesty International Canada Media Awards.

2024/2025 Winners

National Written News Story

“‘Torturing us as payback:’ Inside the disturbing allegations of how Ontario jail guards exacted their revenge against inmates”
Brendan Kennedy

Toronto Star

Long-Form Video

“Food for Profit”
Tom Fennario & Brittany Guyot

APTN Investigates, APTN

Mixed Media

“I went undercover as an Uber Eats courier and made just $1.74 per hour online. Here’s what I learned about the troubling cost of convenience”
Ghada Alsharif, with Lance McMillan, Angelyn Francis & Jesse McLean (Executive producers: JP Fozo & Duncan Hood)

Toronto Star

Long-Form Audio

“The next war: Sexual violence in Ukraine”

Freelance documentary for The Current, CBC Radio

Long-Form Audio

“‘You have to survive. Stay safe. I’m doing what I can.’ Canadians describe nightmare race to get loved ones out of Gaza”
Saba Eitizaz

This Matters, Toronto Star

Local/Alternative Media

“Torn apart from their families, Uyghur exiles look to Canada in hopes of a better life”
Yvonne Lau, Broadview

Broadview, January/February 2024 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.

Chris Arsenault

Dr. Chris Arsenault is Chair of the Master of Media in Journalism & Communication Program at Western University. Before entering academia, he was an international correspondent with Thomson Reuters, Al Jazeera and other outlets, filing stories from five continents.

Cory Ruf

Cory Ruf is the media officer with Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. A former journalist, he has reported for CBC Hamilton, the Victoria Times Colonist and the United Church Observer magazine. “A Taste of Tolerance,” his January 2012 feature for the United Church Observer, won an Amnesty International Canada Media Award in the Local/Alternative category.

Donnovan Bennett

Donnovan Bennett is a TV and radio host, producer, writer, and content creator, his work often touching on the intersections between sports, race, politics, gender, and pop culture. Bennett’s multiplatform dexterity has earned him some of the highest honours in Canadian media, including a Lester B. Pearson Award, a Ted Rogers Award, a Black Excellence Award, and a RTDNA Canada Award. He won the Amnesty International Canada Media Award in the Short-Form Video category in both 2023 and 2024.

Jillian Kestler-D’Amours

Jillian Kestler-D’Amours is a Montreal-based reporter and editor with Al Jazeera English online. She previously worked at The Canadian Press, CBC Montreal, and the Toronto Star. She also has reported from across the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in the U.S., South America, Asia, and Europe. A three-time Amnesty International Canada Media Awards recipient, she reports primarily on human rights, global conflict and Canadian foreign policy.

Meg Wilcox

Meg Wilcox is an award-winning podcaster who teaches Journalism and Digital Media at Mount Royal University in Calgary. Her research and journalistic work explores how podcasting can help underserved communities and individuals tell stories in ways that reflect their lived experience and values. Before joining MRU, Meg spent nearly a decade travelling the country as a reporter, producer, and host (CBC, iPolitics, CTV, Banff Centre Radio, CKUA). Her first book, The New Journalist’s Guide to Freelancing, is out now through Broadview Press.

Sharon Nadeem

Sharon Nadeem is an award-winning multimedia journalist who works as a producer and head of partnerships at the Global Reporting Centre at the University of British Columbia. Her in-depth work, primarily on documentaries and podcasts, can be found in major media outlets including PBS FRONTLINE, PRX, BBC News, the Globe and Mail, the Walrus, CBC, the Jakarta Post, the Yukon News, and the Edmonton Journal.

Shenaz Kermalli

Shenaz Kermalli is a freelance journalist and journalism instructor at University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and Toronto Metropolitan University. A former producer for BBC News, Al Jazeera English and CBC News, she has contributed to the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, Foreign Policy, the Toronto Star, and the Guardian (UK), among others.

Sonya Fatah

Sonya Fatah is an associate professor of journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research, teaching, and practice focus on newsroom culture and composition, tracking press freedoms in Canada, global reporting practices, and live/performance journalism. For much of Sonya’s two decades as a working journalist, she reported from India and Pakistan, covering South Asian politics for media outlets such as the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Times of India, and PRX.

Media Award Categories

Our judges consider the following award categories.

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