Congratulations to Sharon J. Riley, winner of the 2020 Allan Slaight Prize for Journalism for her story “The Age of Surrender”, which analyzes how our medical systems strip some elders of their autonomy and how this loss of control affects them and their families.
The Allan Slaight Prize for Journalism celebrates journalistic achievements by contributors to The Walrus. Launched in 2017 by The Slaight Family Foundation, the $10,000 prize is awarded to an independent journalist for their work researching, analyzing, and writing about some of the most important topics of our time. A jury of industry specialists reviews more than fifty long-form articles published by The Walrus each year and selects a longlist of ten stories, a shortlist of three finalists, and the recipient of the prize.
The full 2020 Allan Slaight Prize for Journalism longlist:
- The Digital Afterlife by BRIAN J. BARTH
- What Would It Look Like to Take the First Nations Water Crisis Seriously? by HILARY BEAUMONT
- Objectivity Is a Privilege Afforded to White Journalists by PACINTHE MATTAR
- The Butterfly Effect by SHERINA HARRIS
- Did Prisons Ever Work? by LAUREN MCKEON
- How to Vaccinate a Planet by DANIELLE GROEN
- How a Good Scam Can Bypass Our Defences by BRUCE GRIERSON
- The Search for Mackie Basil by ANNIE HYLTON
- Your Brain on COVID-19 by CAROLYN ABRAHAM

Oscar Baker III is the Indigenous affairs reporter at the Cape Breton Post. He is from Elsipogtog First Nation and St. Augustine, Florida, and has held various journalism roles in his seven-year career, including as the JHR Indigenous Editorial Fellow at The Walrus in 2019.
Peter Klein is the executive director and founder of the Global Reporting Centre. He was a long-time producer for the CBS News program 60 Minutes and has produced projects for many of the major news programs, including Frontline, Nightline, and 20/20. He has written for the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and other newspapers. Among many other accolades, Peter’s work has been honoured with three Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Vicky Mochama is a journalist and writer.
Elizabeth Renzetti is a columnist at the Globe and Mail, reporter, editor, and The Walrus Talks speaker. She recently won the Landsberg Award from The Canadian Journalism Foundation in association with the Canadian Women’s Foundation, which recognizes excellence in research, analysis, and reporting through a gender lens.