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,[1] 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.[1] The award is sponsored by CN.
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.[2]
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.
| Year | Winner | Nominated | |
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| 2000 Jury: John Crosbie, Ron Graham, Peter Newman | Erna Paris, Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History |
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| 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) |
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| 2002 Jury: Susan Delacourt, Bob Rae, Janice Gross Stein | John Duffy, Fights of Our Lives: Elections, Leadership and the Making of Canada |
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| 2003 Jury: Clive Doucet, Margaret MacMillan, Peter Mansbridge | Roméo Dallaire, |
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| 2004 Jury: Pat Carney, Andrew Cohen, Marci McDonald | Jane Jacobs, Dark Age Ahead |
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| 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 |
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| 2006 Jury: Carol Goar, Arthur Kroeger, Susan Riley | Max Nemni, Monique Nemni (authors) and William Johnson (trans.), |
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| 2007 Jury: Robert Bothwell, Lawrence Martin, Brigitte Pellerin | Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang, The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar |
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| 2008 Jury: Chantal Hébert, William Johnson, David Walmsley | James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century |
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| 2009 Jury: Andrew Nikiforuk, Erna Paris, Michael Petrou | John English, Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1968-2000 |
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| 2010 Jury: L. Ian MacDonald, Rosemary Speirs, Paul Wells | Anna Porter, The Ghosts of Europe: Central Europe's Past and Uncertain Future |
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| 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[3] |
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| 2012 Jury: Ed Broadbent, Tasha Kheiriddin, Daniel Poliquin | Marcello Di Cintio, Walls: Travels Along the Barricades |
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| 2013[4] Jury: Licia Corbella, Jane O'Hara, Doug Saunders | Paul Wells, The Longer I'm Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and Canada, 2006 |
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| 2014[5] Jury: Denise Chong, Terry Glavin, Jane Taber | Joseph Heath, Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy, and Our Lives |
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| 2015[6] Jury: Tim Cook, Robyn Doolittle, Antonia Maioni | John Ibbitson, Stephen Harper[7] |
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| 2016[8] Jury: Nahlah Ayed, Colby Cosh, Megan Leslie. | Kamal Al-Solaylee, Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (To Everyone)[9] |
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| 2017[10] Jury: Taiaiake Alfred, Joseph Heath, Kady O'Malley. | Tanya Talaga, Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City[11] |
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| 2018[12] | Rachel Giese, Boys: What It Means to Become a Man[13] |
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| 2019[14] Jury: Greg Donaghy, Althia Raj, Paula Simons | Beverley McLachlin, Truth Be Told: My Journey Through Life and the Law |
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| 2020[15] | Ronald Deibert, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society[16] |
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| 2022Jury: Charelle Evelyn, Jacques Poitras, and Lisa Raitt[17] | Joanna Chiu, China Unbound: A New World Disorder[18] |
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| 2023Jury: Terri E. Givens, Nik Nanos, Jacques Poitras[19] | Chris Turner, How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World[20] |
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| 2024 Jury: Joanna Chiu, Dale Eisler, Kathleen Wynne | John Vaillant, Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast |
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