Maggie Helwig’s Encampment wins 2026 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing
Maggie Helwig has won the 2026 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for her book Encampment, which documents the 2022 unhoused encampment at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Toronto’s Kensington Market. The prize, awarded annually for literary nonfiction on a political subject relevant to Canadians, includes a $40,000 award, with $5,000 given to each of the four finalists. Helwig’s book, previously awarded the 2025 Toronto Book Award, offers a firsthand account of Canada’s homelessness crisis and calls for deeper public understanding.
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Open this photo in gallery:In Encampment, Maggie Helwig recounts the events from 2022 when the housing crisis in Toronto led some individuals to camp in the yard beside the Anglican church in Kensington Market.Michael Hudson/SuppliedShareSave for laterPlease log in to bookmark this story.Log InCreate Free AccountMaggie Helwig, a rector of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Toronto, has won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for her book Encampment: Resistance, Grace and an Unhoused Community, a look at Canada’s homelessness crisis.Helwig’s win was announced Wednesday night at a gala in Ottawa, and the honour comes with a $40,000 prize.
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