Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing

The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best nonfiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It has been presented annually in Ottawa at the Writers’ Trust Politics and the Pen gala since 2000, superseding the organization's defunct Gordon Montador Award.

The award had a dollar value in 2015 of CAD25,000.

The prize was established in honour of Shaughnessy Cohen (February 11, 1948 - December 9, 1998), an outspoken and popular Liberal Member of Parliament from Windsor, Ontario who died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage in the House of Commons of Canada just seconds after standing to address her peers. The award is sponsored by CN.

Submissions

All Canadian-based publishers of original manuscripts may enter two books; companies publishing more than ten eligible nonfiction titles during the 2012 calendar year may add one book for every additional ten eligible books (or fraction thereof) on their nonfiction list, up to a maximum of five. For example, a publisher with a list of 18 qualifying nonfiction books would be entitled to submit three — two for the first ten and one for the next ten.

Jury

A three-person jury selects the winner and finalists of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. The jury acts independently of the Writers’ Trust and is charged with interpreting the mandate and eligibility criteria of the prize, as well as determining which of the submissions best reflect the prize mandate. In evaluating the writing, literary merit is the sole criteria. Each juror may request an unlimited number of additional titles from the publisher's lists. Such titles are on equal footing with all other submissions, provided that their publishers agree to abide by the conditions laid out in this document. The judgment of the jury in selecting the winners, determining eligibility, and interpreting these rules is final.

Winners and nominees

Year	Winner	Nominated
2000 Jury: John Crosbie, Ron Graham, Peter Newman	Erna Paris, Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History	Victoria Freeman, Distant Relations: How My Ancestors Colonized North America Myrna Kostash, The Next Canada: In Search of our Future Nation Carol Off, The Lion, the Fox, & the Eagle: A Story of Generals and Justice in Rwanda and Yugoslavia Margaret Somerville, The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit
2001 Jury: Maggie Siggins, Pamela Wallin, Hugh Winsor	Daniel Poliquin, In the Name of the Father: An Essay on Quebec Nationalism (translated by Don Winkler)	Ingeborg Boyens, Another Season's Promise Janice Gross Stein, The Cult of Efficiency Linda McQuaig, All You Can Eat Julian Sher, Until You Are Dead
2002 Jury: Susan Delacourt, Bob Rae, Janice Gross Stein	John Duffy, Fights of Our Lives: Elections, Leadership and the Making of Canada	Stephen Clarkson, Uncle Sam and Us: Globalization, Neoconservatism, and the Canadian State Colin N. Perkel, Well of Lies: The Walkerton Water Tragedy John Saywell, The Lawmakers: Judicial Power and the Shaping of Canadian Federalism Daniel Stoffman, Who Gets In: What’s Wrong with Canada’s Immigration Program – and How to Fix It
2003 Jury: Clive Doucet, Margaret MacMillan, Peter Mansbridge	Roméo Dallaire, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda	Jane Doe, The Story of Jane Doe Julian Sher and William Marsden, The Road to Hell: How the Biker Gangs Are Conquering Canada
2004 Jury: Pat Carney, Andrew Cohen, Marci McDonald	Jane Jacobs, Dark Age Ahead	Gwynne Dyer, Future: Tense: The Coming World Order Jack Granatstein, Who Killed the Canadian Military? Jennifer Welsh, At Home in the World: Canada's Global Vision for the 21st Century Rex Weyler, Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World
2005 Jury: Sheila Copps, Bill Fox, Christopher Waddell	Miriam Shuchman, The Drug Trial: Nancy Olivieri and the Science Scandal that Rocked the Hospital for Sick Children	Kim Bolan, Loss of Faith: How the Air-India Bombers Got Away with Murder William Johnson, Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada Amy Knight, How the Cold War Began: The Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies Susanne Reber and Robert Renaud, Starlight Tour: The Last, Lonely Night of Neil Stonechild
2006 Jury: Carol Goar, Arthur Kroeger, Susan Riley	Max Nemni, Monique Nemni (authors) and William Johnson (trans.), Young Trudeau: Son of Quebec, Father of Canada, 1919-1944	John English, Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Volume 1: 1919-1968 Eddie Goldenberg, The Way It Works: Inside Ottawa Allan Gotlieb, The Washington Diaries, 1981-1989 Carol Off, Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet
2007 Jury: Robert Bothwell, Lawrence Martin, Brigitte Pellerin	Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang, The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar	Clive Doucet, Urban Meltdown: Cities, Climate Change and Politics as Usual Richard Gwyn, John A: The Man Who Made Us; The Life and Times of John A. Macdonald, Volume One: 1815–1867 Andrea Mandel-Campbell, Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson David E. Smith, The People’s House of Commons: Theories of Democracy in Contention
2008 Jury: Chantal Hébert, William Johnson, David Walmsley	James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century	Daphne Bramham, The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect Erna Paris, The Sun Climbs Slow: Justice in the Age of Imperial America Marie Wadden, Where the Pavement Ends: Canada’s Aboriginal Recovery Movement and the Urgent Need for Reconciliation Chris Wood, Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America
2009 Jury: Andrew Nikiforuk, Erna Paris, Michael Petrou	John English, Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1968-2000	Terry Gould, Murder Without Borders: Dying for the Story in the World’s Most Dangerous Places Rudyard Griffiths, Who We Are: A Citizen’s Manifesto James Maskalyk, Six Months in Sudan: A Young Doctor in a War-Torn Village Daniel Poliquin, René Lévesque
2010 Jury: L. Ian MacDonald, Rosemary Speirs, Paul Wells	Anna Porter, The Ghosts of Europe: Central Europe's Past and Uncertain Future	Tim Cook, The Madman and the Butcher: The Sensational Wars of Sam Hughes and General Arthur Currie Shelagh D. Grant, Polar Imperatives: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America Lawrence Martin, Harperland: The Politics of Control Doug Saunders, Arrival City: The Final Migration and our Next World
2011 Jury: David Akin, Charlotte Gray, Janice Gross Stein	Richard Gwyn, Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times; Volume Two: 1867-1891	Ron Graham, The Last Act: Pierre Trudeau, the Gang of Eight, and the Fight for Canada Max Nemni, Monique Nemni (authors) and George Tombs (translator), Trudeau Transformed: The Shaping of a Statesman, 1944-1965 Andrew Nikiforuk, Empire of the Beetle: How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America’s Great Forests Jacques Poitras, Imaginary Line: Life on an Unfinished Border
2012 Jury: Ed Broadbent, Tasha Kheiriddin, Daniel Poliquin	Marcello Di Cintio, Walls: Travels Along the Barricades	Taras Grescoe, Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile Noah Richler, What We Talk About When We Talk About War Jeffrey Simpson, Chronic Condition: Why Canada’s Health-Care System Needs to be Dragged into the 21st Century Peter Trent, The Merger Delusion: How Swallowing Its Suburbs Made an Even Bigger Mess of Montreal
2013 Jury: Licia Corbella, Jane O'Hara, Doug Saunders	Paul Wells, The Longer I'm Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and Canada, 2006	Margaret MacMillan, The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 Charles Montgomery, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives through Urban Design Donald J. Savoie, Whatever Happened to the Music Teacher? How Government Decides and Why Graeme Smith, The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan
2014 Jury: Denise Chong, Terry Glavin, Jane Taber	Joseph Heath, Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy, and Our Lives	Chantal Hébert and Jean Lapierre, The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate John Ralston Saul, The Comeback: How Aboriginals Are Reclaiming Power and Influence Graham Steele, What I Learned About Politics: Inside the Rise – and Collapse – of Nova Scotia’s NDP Government
2015 Jury: Tim Cook, Robyn Doolittle, Antonia Maioni	John Ibbitson, Stephen Harper	Greg Donaghy, Grit: The Life and Politics of Paul Martin Sr. Norman Hillmer, O.D. Skelton: A Portrait of Canadian Ambition Andrew Nikiforuk, Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry Sheila Watt-Cloutier, The Right To Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic, and the Whole Planet
2016 Jury: Nahlah Ayed, Colby Cosh, Megan Leslie.	Kamal Al-Solaylee, Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (To Everyone)	Christie Blatchford, Life Sentence: Stories from Four Decades of Court Reporting — Or, How I Fell Out of Love with the Canadian Justice System (Especially Judges) Ian McKay and Jamie Swift, The Vimy Trap: Or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great War James McLeod, Turmoil, as Usual: Politics in Newfoundland and Labrador and the Road to the 2015 Election Noah Richler, The Candidate: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
2017 Jury: Taiaiake Alfred, Joseph Heath, Kady O'Malley.	Tanya Talaga, Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City	Christopher Dummitt, Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King’s Secret Life Carol Off, All We Leave Behind: A Reporter’s Journey into the Lives of Others Sandra Perron, Out Standing in the Field: A Memoir by Canada’s First Female Infantry Officer Ted Rowe, Robert Bond: The Greatest Newfoundlander
2018	Rachel Giese, Boys: What It Means to Become a Man	Abu Bakr Al-Rabeeah and Winnie Yeung, Homes: A Refugee Story Sarah Cox, Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand Against Big Hydro Jacques Poitras Pipe Dreams: The Fight for Canada’s Energy Future Harley Rustad, Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees
2019 Jury: Greg Donaghy, Althia Raj, Paula Simons	Beverley McLachlin, Truth Be Told: My Journey Through Life and the Law	Adam Chapnick, Canada on the United Nations Security Council: A Small Power on a Large Stage Harold R. Johnson, Peace and Good Order: The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada Jonathan Manthorpe, Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada Kent Roach, Canadian Justice, Indigenous Injustice: The Gerald Stanley and Colten Boushie Case
2020	Ronald Deibert, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society	Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Can You Hear Me Now?: How I Found My Voice and Learned to Live with Passion and Purpose Desmond Cole, The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power Alex Marland, Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada Karin Wells, The Abortion Caravan: When Women Shut Down Government in the Battle for the Right to Choose
2022 Jury: Charelle Evelyn, Jacques Poitras, and Lisa Raitt	Joanna Chiu, China Unbound: A New World Disorder	Mike Blanchfield and Fen Osler Hampson, The Two Michaels: Innocent Canadian Captives and High Stakes Espionage in the US-China Cyber War Flora MacDonald and Geoffrey Stevens, Flora! A Woman in a Man’s World Stephen Poloz, The Next Age of Uncertainty: How the World Can Adapt to a Riskier Future Jody Wilson-Raybould, Indian in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power
2023 Jury: Terri E. Givens, Nik Nanos, Jacques Poitras	Chris Turner, How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World	Norma Dunning, Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for Her Grandmother Dale Eisler, From Left to Right: Saskatchewan’s Political and Economic Transformation Josh O'Kane, Sideways: The City Google Couldn't Buy Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson, Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation
2024 Jury: Joanna Chiu, Dale Eisler, Kathleen Wynne	John Vaillant, Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast	Rob Goodman, Not Here: Why American Democracy Is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself Benjamin Perrin, Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial Donald J. Savoie, Canada: Beyond Grudges, Grievances, and Disunity Astra Taylor, The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart

External links

• Shaughnessy Cohen Prize