Ronald J. Deibert's Massey Lectures on technology wins $25K prize for best Canadian political writing
Ronald J. Deibert's Massey Lectures on technology, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, has won the 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.
The $25,000 prize is awarded annually for a book of literary nonfiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers and has the potential to shape or influence thinking on Canadian political life.
In Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, Deibert argues that the internet, especially social media, has an increasingly toxic influence in every aspect of life. Drawing from his work as the director of Citizen Lab, which has made headlines for its cyber espionage research, Deibert explores the personal, social, political, economic and ecological implications of social media.
The Massey Lectures are broadcast on Ideas on CBC Radio every year, and the lectures are published as a book by House of Anansi Press. You can learn more about or listen to Deibert's Massey Lectures here.
Deibert is the founder and director of Citizen Lab, a research centre based at the University of Toronto, which studies technology, surveillance and censorship. Reset was also nominated for the 2021 Donner Prize for best Canadian public policy book.
"Deibert combines leading-edge research and gripping stories to expose the dangerous, even deadly, forces lurking online," the prize jury said in a statement. "With trailblazing originality, he explains why it's time to reset the internet to thwart cybercriminals, safeguard political activists, rein in environmental costs, and restrain the mayhem of social media."
This year's jury was composed of author Peter Dauvergne, CBC News Ottawa anchor Adrian Harewood and Toronto Star Ottawa bureau chief Heather Scoffield.
The four remaining finalists each received $2,500. They are former MP and leadership consultant Celina Caesar-Chavannes for her memoir Can You Hear Me Now?, journalist Desmond Cole for The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power, political science professor Alex Marland for Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada and lawyer and CBC Radio documentary maker Karin Wells for The Abortion Caravan: When Women Shut Down Government in the Battle for the Right to Choose.
The prize was given out during the 2021 edition of Politics and the Pen gala, an annual fundraiser for the Writers' Trust of Canada. The event was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"My day job at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto focuses on investigations around digital malfeasance worldwide. My writing there involves very meticulous, clinical research reports, where a lot of the weight is on the evidence and the care we put together our reports. Writing this book, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, for the CBC Massey Lectures allowed me to write in a much different manner. It gave me the opportunity to write for a different, more general audience, to tell stories. It was like being unplugged," Deibert said upon accepting the award.
"I had so much fun writing this book and its such an amazing honour to know that other people not only enjoyed the book, but to be given this award is like the icing on the cake for it all."
The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize was established in 2000 in honour of the outspoken and popular Member of Parliament from Windsor, Ont.
Last year's winner was former Canadian Supreme Court chief justice Beverley McLachlin for her memoir Truth Be Told.
Other past winners include Kamal Al Solaylee, Jane Jacobs and Roméo Dallaire.
The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize is announced by Writers' Trust of Canada, an organization that supports Canadian writers through 11 annual national literary awards, fellowships, financial grants, mentorships and more.
The organization gave out more than $970,000 to support Canadian writers in 2020.
