The Canadian Association of Journalists opens nominations - and announces some changes - for its 2024 Awards program

OTTAWA, ON, Dec. 4, 2024 /CNW/ - The #CAJAwards, Canada's preeminent national investigative journalism awards program, run by and for journalists, is now accepting entries for its 2024 competition.

This year's CAJ Awards program features 18 categories and rewards journalistic excellence published across all platforms: digital, print and broadcast. The competition also recognizes reporting excellence in several topic areas, including: environment and climate change, labour, and human rights.

"In a time when journalism is coming under increased pressure and scrutiny, it is vitally important to celebrate courageous reporting that demands accountability from those in positions of power," said Brent Jolly, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists. "Journalists perform a critical democratic function in Canadian society and the CAJ Awards competition highlights some of the finest efforts in service of upholding the public's right to know."

New for this year's competition, the CAJ is happy to announce it will award both gold and silver prizes in all categories. Silver prize recipients will be awarded a certificate of recognition at our awards gala next spring; our gold winners will receive a winner's certificate and cash prize.

"There's so much stunningly good journalism submitted each year, and adding a silver prize allows our judges to recognize more of it," said Jason Markusoff, chair of the CAJ awards committee.

The 2024 program will also celebrate the excellent work from student journalists, as well as recognize an emerging Indigenous journalist.  

The deadline to submit entries to this year's competition is 11:59 p.m. ET on January 14, 2024.

In consultation with the leadership at APTN News, we will not offer the Truth and Reconciliation Award this year.

Inspired by a Call to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, this prize recognized the work of a non-Indigenous journalist whose reporting has broadened the understanding of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

The CAJ and APTN News both recognize how far Canadian journalism has come since this award's creation in 2017, and at the same time how many more miles our work has yet to travel. We will work with Indigenous media organizations to find other ways to celebrate and encourage journalism on this vital front.

As always, CAJ members get the lowest entry rates for all categories. If you or someone on your team aren't already members, please sign up for membership by visiting our website.

CAJ members who submit an individual entry into the investigative Community Media or Community Broadcast categories will have their entry fees waived. CAJ student members submitting individual entries to the Student Award of Excellence also pay no entry fee.

The CAJ would like to thank its long-time category sponsors, including: CWA Canada and Journalists for Human Rights. We would also like to thank the Ken and Debbie Rubin Public Interest Advocacy Fund for their continued support of our Freedom of Information Journalism award.

Finalists for this round of CAJ Awards will be announced in early spring 2025. The recipients will be announced at a gala celebration on May 31, 2025 during our annual conference at Calgary's Delta Hotel Downtown.

Our investigative award categories:

• Written News
• Hugo Rodrigues Award for Community News
• Broadcast Over Five Minutes
• Broadcast Under Five Minutes
• Community Broadcast
• Data Journalism
• Freedom of Information Journalism, sponsored by the Ken and Debbie Rubin Public Interest Advocacy Fund
• Online Media

General award categories:

• Photojournalism
• Scoop
• Daily Excellence
• Written Feature
• Community Written Feature
• Environmental and Climate Change
• Student Award of Excellence
• JHR/CAJ Emerging Indigenous Journalist Award
• JHR/CAJ Award for Human Rights Reporting
• CWA Canada/CAJ Award for Labour Reporting

SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists

For further information: Brent Jolly, CAJ president - [email protected]; Jason Markusoff, CAJ Awards committee chair - [email protected]; General awards questions can always be submitted to [email protected]