The Investigative Journalism Foundation picked up a major award Saturday at a Toronto gala organized by the Radio Television Digital News Association of Canada (RTDNA).
The awards honour “the best journalists, programs, platforms, stations, and news-gathering organizations in audio, digital, and video.”
The IJF was a finalist in two categories at the awards, winning in the Overall Excellence in Digital category for its Open By Default database. Other finalists in the category were cbcnews.ca and the digital work of CBC Indigenous.
This marks the third award for Open By Default since its launch in March 2024. The database currently has more than seven million searchable pages of documents previously released under the access to information system in Canada. It is the biggest collection of internal federal government records that had never before been made publicly accessible.
The database has also claimed a silver medal from the Anthem Awards and a product of the year award from LION Publishers.
“I’m so proud of the entire IJF team. I was delighted to be nominated alongside a goliath like CBC, and it feels surreal to actually win,” said Zane Schwartz, IJF editor-in-chief and CEO. “Open By Default strengthens Canadian democracy, and I’m grateful the RTDNA Canada judges recognize that.”
The IJF’s second nomination at Saturday’s RTDNA awards was in the Excellence in Data Storytelling category for the interactive story “Meet the lobbyists connected to Canada's federal party leaders.”
In both categories, the IJF was nominated alongside CBC News.
RTDNA Canada is an association representing leaders and members of Canada’s radio, television and digital news industry on issues that impact news coverage and journalists.