Former Luke’s Place Advocacy Director, Pamela Cross Shortlisted for 2025 Balsillie Prize
Kingston-based feminist lawyer and advocate Pamela Cross has been named a finalist for the 2025 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy with her book, And Sometimes They Kill You: Confronting the Epidemic of Intimate Partner Violence.
Now in its fifth year, the Balsillie Prize recognizes nonfiction works that push forward public policy conversations in Canada. The award places a premium on research-driven, insightful contributions to pressing social, political, economic, or cultural debates.
The 2025 jury selected Cross’s work from a pool of 58 submitted titles across 35 Canadian publishers.
Cross’s nomination is especially significant given the urgency of the issue she addresses. Intimate partner violence remains a deeply rooted, systemic problem in Canada and globally, and one that often stays hidden behind closed doors. Her book provides both sobering data and straightforward policy recommendations, urging readers to look beyond headlines into the real experiences of survivors and the institutional barriers they encounter.
Also shortlisted in 2025 are works by Vince Beiser (Power Metal), Vass Bednar & Denise Hearn (The Big Fix), and Stephen J.A. Ward (Irrational Publics).
Each finalist will receive $7,500, while the winner will be awarded $70,000. This year’s prize pool was raised in recognition of the award’s milestone anniversary.
The winner will be announced on November 25, 2025, at a live event in Toronto. For Cross, this recognition marks a significant moment: her work is being elevated into the national spotlight, amplifying the conversation around gendered violence and the policy responses we urgently need.
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