12th Annual Donner Prize winner announced

A rich, textured and highly nuanced account of the Canada-US relationship wins $35,000 prize.

TORONTO, April 28 /CNW/ - The winner of the prestigious Donner Prize, an annual award for best book on Canadian public policy, was announced this evening by Allan Gotlieb, Chairman of the Donner Canadian Foundation, at a gala awards dinner at the Carlu.

Brian Bow was awarded the $35,000 prize for The Politics of Linkage: Power, Interdependence and Ideas in Canada-US Relations, published by UBC Press.

Brian Bow is an associate professor of political science at Dalhousie University and co-editor of An Independent Foreign Policy for Canada? Challenges and Choices for the Future. He is also the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.

Offering detailed accounts of four major bilateral disputes, The Politics of Linkage traces a history of US - Canadian relations and the post-war diplomatic culture.

"A well organized and accessible analysis based on the bargaining theory of the history of the Canada-US relationship. The underlying research is sound, exhaustive and of exceptional quality." - Donner Jury

"This book is of great importance not only for a better understanding of the exceptional history of Canada-United-States relationships but also to see the need to adapt Canadian negotiations strategies to the new and more complex context. " - Donner Jury

The other nominated titles, each of which received $5,000, were:

Who Owns the Arctic?: Understanding Sovereignty Disputes in the North by Michael Byers (Douglas & McIntyre)

A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for Its Future by Larry Campbell, Neil Boyd & Lori Culbert (Greystone Books)

Branding Canada: Projecting Canada's Soft Power through Public Diplomacy by Evan H. Potter (McGill-Queen's University Press)

Last year's winners of the $35,000 Donner Prize were Ken S. Coates, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, William R. Morrison & Greg Poelzer for Arctic Front: Defending Canada in the Far North, published by Thomas Allen Publishers.

The winner of the Donner Prize was chosen from an impressive list of 71 submissions and a shortlist of four by the five-member jury: Anne McLellan (Chairman), Wendy Dobson, Peter Harder, Robert Lacroix, and Denis Stairs.

"We had books submitted on a diversity of subjects again this year. Interestingly we had a significant number of submissions that addressed Canada's role in the world, a fact reflected in this year's short list. In choosing our short list we consider the importance of the subject, the soundness and originality of the analysis, the presentation of the evidence, the support of the conclusions reached, and the accessibility of the text in our discussions," said Anne McLellan.

The Donner Prize, established in 1998, annually rewards excellence and innovation in Canadian public policy thinking, writing and research in Canada; inspiring lively debate on public policy issues and rewarding provocative and excellent work that speaks to an informed readership and an open exchange of ideas and public debate. In bestowing this award, the Donner Canadian Foundation seeks to broaden policy debates, increase general awareness of the importance of policy decision making and make an original and meaningful contribution to policy discourse.

For further information: Debby De Groot, Meisner, de Groot & Associates, Phone: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]; www.donnerbookprize.com