EDMONTON, May 29, 2016 /CNW/ – In a year when Canada’s national media finally awoke to the tragedies of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the work by our national public broadcaster set the standard.

The CBC News Aboriginal team, supported by others across the CBC News team, are the recipients of the 2015 Don McGillivray Award, given to the top investigative entry into the annual CAJ Awards program at the gala which concluded #CAJ16 at the Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel.

The elements of the CBC’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women website were among the first to be published, told the stories of those affected in an impactful way and, somewhat sadly, led to the identification of even more Indigenous women as missing or murdered. McGillivray judges noted these elements in their deliberations, in a year when one of the other candidates for the top investigative award was also focused on MMIW.

CBC News’ entry had been named recipient of the Online Media category earlier on Saturday, one of 14 recipients recognized across the CAJ Awards program. The winning entries in most categories received a $500 cash prize.

The full list of 2015 CAJ Awards recipients is below.

Please note the media outlet listed is where the recipient(s) worked at the time their entry was broadcast/published or where the particular entry was broadcast/published. Links, where available, have been provided in the titles of the recipients’ entries.

The recipients in the OPEN MEDIA category are:

Andrew Bailey, David Bruser, Astrid Lange, Jim Rankin, Randy Risling, Joanna Smith, Rick Sznajder, Tanya Talaga, Jennifer Wells

Gone: Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women

The Toronto Star

The recipient in the COMMUNITY MEDIA category is:

Ian Hitchen

The Runaways

The Brandon Sun

The recipient in the OPEN BROADCAST FEATURE category is:

Karin Wells

‘In the presence of a spoon’

CBC Radio One – The Sunday Edition

The recipients in the OPEN BROADCAST NEWS category are:

Anton Koschany, Victor Malarek, Sarah Stevens, Brett Mitchell

Phantom Menace

CTV – W5

The recipients in the COMMUNITY BROADCAST category are:

Natalie Clancy, Paisley Woodward

Real estate seminars exposed

CBC News – Vancouver

The recipients in the CAJ / MARKETWIRED DATA JOURNALISM AWARD are:

Diana Swain, Timothy Sawa, Lori Ward

Campus sexual assaults: The fight to get the real picture

CBC News Investigative Unit – CBC – The National

The recipients in the ONLINE MEDIA category are:

Cate Friesen, Cecil Rosner, Connie Walker, Duncan McCue, Tiar Wilson, Kimberly Ivany, Martha Troian, Chantelle Bellrichard, Joanne Levasseur,Teghan Beaudette, Kristy Hoffman, Donna Lee, Tara Lindemann, William Wolfe-Wylie, Richard Grasley, Michael Leschart, Michael Pereira

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

CBC News

The recipient in the PHOTOJOURNALISM category is:

John Lehmann

Portfolio entry

The Globe and Mail

The recipient in the SCOOP category is:

Bruce Cheadle

Omnibus budget bill rewrites history to clear RCMP of potential criminal charges

The Canadian Press

The recipient in the DAILY EXCELLENCE category is:

Margaret Evans

Paris Mourns

CBC Radio One – The World This Weekend

The recipient in the TEXT FEATURE category is:

Shannon Proudfoot

Jo has Alzheimer’s. He’s 38

Maclean’s

The recipients in the JHR / CAJ AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING are:

Dennis Ward, Murray Oliver

A soldier scorned

APTN Investigates

The recipients in the CWA CANADA / CAJ AWARD FOR LABOUR REPORTING are:

Melissa Ridgen

Hurting for work

APTN Investigates

and

Nick Purdon, Leonardo Palleja

Up close: Prison guards

CBC News – The National

The recipients in the CAJ / CNW GROUP STUDENT AWARD OF EXCELLENCE are:

Amara McLaughlin, Jesse Yardley

Risky decisions for Canadian cancer patients

Calgary Journal / Mount Royal University

There were a total 230 entries for the 2015 awards program.

Congratulations to all our recipients. Your work has been outstanding, inspiring and a reminder of how despite the unending fiscal challenges facing our industry, Canadian journalists still produce plenty of amazing, important and impactful journalism. We thank you for entering.