Jury and Call for Submissions Announced for $50,000 Donner Prize

TORONTO, Nov. 14, 2012 /CNW/ - Allan Gotlieb, Chairman of the Donner Canadian Foundation, announced the official Call for Submissions for the fifteenth annual Donner Prize, the award for best book on public policy by a Canadian. The winner will receive $50,000, and shortlisted titles will take home $7,500. The prize encourages and celebrates excellence in public policy writing by Canadians, on topics of great importance to Canadians.

Mr. Gotlieb also announced this year's prize jury, who are tasked with selecting the shortlist and the eventual winner of the Donner Prize. "It is my pleasure to see the return of four of last year's distinguished jurors, as well as welcome Jennifer Jeffs to the jury for the 2012 Donner Prize," said Gotlieb.

Dr. Jennifer A. Jeffs is the President of the Canadian International Council, a Director of the Canadian Council of the Americas, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Canada-Mexico Initiative.

The Honourable Anne McLellan will return as this year's Jury chair. McLellan joined Bennett Jones LLP after a distinguished career in federal politics, where she served four terms as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre from 1993-2006.  She is former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Minister of Health, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister of Natural Resources and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians.

Also returning to the jury are Marcel Boyer, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Université de Montréal; Kevin Lynch, Vice-Chair, BMO Financial Group; and Denis Stairs, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Dalhousie University.

The Donner Canadian Foundation, one of Canada's largest foundations, created the prize to encourage increased research on public policy in Canada and to promote the discussion of policy issues in the public arena.  In giving this annual award, the Foundation seeks not only to broaden policy debate, but also increase general awareness of the importance of policy discourse. The 2011 prize went to the late Peter Aucoin, Mark D. Jarvis and Lori Turnbull for DEMOCRATIZING THE CONSTITUTION: REFORMING RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.

"It truly was an honour winning the Donner Prize for Democratizing the Constitution. It is always nice to have your work recognized, but having it recognized by such a respected award has ensured a far greater audience and broader discussion of what we firmly believed were important and pressing ideas than they would have otherwise received," said Jarvis.

Emond Montgomery Publications, the publisher of the 2011 winning book, added, "It was a great honour for one of EMP's books to win the Donner Prize. As a relatively small publisher, this prestigious prize has given a significant boost to our profile."

Books submitted for the 2012 prize should focus on public policy issues - be they regional, national, or international - that have clear implications and relevance for Canada, for example: regulatory and legal reform, public finance, the environment, urban affairs, health care, and education reform. Submissions must be written by Canadian citizens, but they may be published by non-Canadian publishing houses, so long as the books have implications for Canada. For the 2012 prize, books that are written by Canadians in either English or French, between January 1, and December 31, 2012, are eligible.  See www.DonnerBookPrize.com for complete rules regarding eligibility and submission procedures.

The $50,000 Donner Prize for 2011 was awarded to DEMOCRATIZING THE CONSTITUTION: REFORMING RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT by Peter Aucoin, Mark D. Jarvis and Lori Turnbull (Emond Montgomery Publications). The $7,500 shortlisted titles were: TOWARD IMPROVING CANADA'S SKILLED IMMIGRATION POLICY: AN EVALUATION APPROACH by Charles M. Beach, the late Alan G. Green and Christopher Worswick (C.D. Howe Institute); MUSEUM PIECES: TOWARD THE INDIGENIZATION OF CANADIAN MUSEUMS by Ruth B. Phillips (McGill-Queen's University Press), and XXL: OBESITY AND THE LIMITS OF SHAME by Neil Seeman and Patrick Luciani (University of Toronto Centre for Public Management).

The deadline for submissions for this year's prize is November 30, 2012. The shortlist will be announced in late March 2013, and the winner will be proclaimed at a gala dinner in Toronto in April 2013.

SOURCE: Donner Canadian Foundation

Sherry Naylor, Prize Manager 
Phone: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
www.donnerbookprize.com