The Investigative Journalism Foundation’s database Residential Schools, the Hidden Stories has been nominated for a social impact award by a New York-based international academy.
The IJF is a non-profit finalist for the Anthem Award in the awareness, human and civil rights category celebrating “Media or projects that inform and educate audiences about a topic or issue, with the intention of influencing their attitudes or behavior.”
The Anthem Awards were launched in 2021 by the Webby Awards to honour “purpose and mission-driven work of people, companies and organizations worldwide.” They are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in New York.
The IJF’s residential schools database, launched in April 2025, contains thousands of searchable pages of documents created by the Canadian government that had never before been available to the public.
A step closer to the truth: IJF database exposes new details about Canada’s residential schools
Documents in the database detail survivors’ accounts of physical and sexual abuse, unsafe and unhygienic conditions, overcrowding, poor nutrition and countless epidemics of smallpox, tuberculosis, measles, mumps, diphtheria and influenza at the schools.
The documents, created by the Canadian government to assist in resolving claims of abuse at the schools, were acquired over more than a decade by Ed Sadowski, a retired researcher at the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre in Ontario.
Finalists for this year’s Anthem Awards were chosen from more than 2,000 submissions from 42 countries.
Gold, silver and bronze medallists are chosen by a panel of judges. But supporters can also vote for the IJF to win the Anthem Community Voice award, a separate award for organizations that receive the most votes from the Anthem online community, until Oct. 30. Winners will be announced on Nov. 18.
This is the IJF’s second time being nominated for an Anthem Award. Last year, the IJF was awarded a silver medal for its Open By Default database, which contains millions of pages of internal federal government records obtained through Access to Information legislation.