Posts

Mark Bourrie wins the 2025 Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media: The Pierre Berton Award

/in /by

We’re thrilled to share that Mark Bourrie, author of titles including the RBC Taylor Prize-winning Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia, has been recognized with the 2025 Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media: The Pierre Berton Award.

View the recipients’ announcement on the Canada’s History website here.

Check out Mark Bourrie’s books here.

Photo: Mark Bourrie (courtesy Canada’s National History Society)

Mark Bourrie is an Ottawa-based author, lawyer, and journalist. He holds a master’s in journalism from Carleton University and a PhD in history from the University of Ottawa. In 2017, he was awarded a Juris Doctor degree and was called to the bar in 2018. He has won numerous awards for his journalism, including a National Magazine Award, and received the RBC Charles Taylor Prize in 2020 for his book Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson. His most recent books include Big Men Fear Me: The Fast Life and Quick Death of Canada’s Most Powerful Media Mogul, the national bestseller Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia, and Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre.

The Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media: the Pierre Berton Award recognizes individuals who have helped increase understanding of Canadian history through popular media, including but not limited to publications, film, radio, television, theatre, or digital media platforms. The $5,000 Pierre Berton Award, as it is also known, is administered by Canada’s National History Society, with the support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage, and Power Corporation of Canada.

In their press release, president and CEO of Canada’s History Society Melony Ward praises,

“Mark Bourrie makes our country’s history as vivid as anything happening today. He embraces the complexity of the past to create works that brim with conflict, struggle, and larger-than-life characters, all firmly grounded in research.”

The eleven recipients being honoured by this year’s history awards, will receive their awards from Governor General Mary Simon at an upcoming ceremony in Ottawa.

A huge congratulations from all of us at Biblioasis to Mark!