Four books about critical mineral extraction, corporate consolidation, intimate partner violence, and the state of politics have been shortlisted for the 2025 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.

Administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, the annual prize, now in its fifth year, recognizes nonfiction books that further policy discussions on social, political, economic, and cultural topics.  This year, the prize purse has been raised from $60,000 to $70,000 to mark the award’s fifth anniversary. Finalists will each receive $7,500, up from $5,000 in previous years.

A jury comprised of doctor and author Samantha Nutt, policy expert Taki Sarantakis, and digital strategist Scott Young chose this year’s finalists from 58 titles submitted by 35 Canadian publishing imprints.

The winner will be named at an event in Toronto on Nov. 25.

The finalists are:

• Vince Beiser for Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future (Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House)
• Vass Bednar and Denise Hearn for The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians (Sutherland House Books)
• Pamela Cross for And Sometimes They Kill You: Confronting the Epidemic of Intimate Partner Violence (Between the Lines)
• Stephen J.A. Ward for Irrational Publics and the Fate of Democracy (McGill-Queen’s University Press)