2020 Donald Smiley Prize

Winner: David McGrane

The New NDP (UBC Press, 2019)

Excerpt from jury report: In The New NDP, David McGrane weaves a highly engaging and convincing narrative of the party’s trajectory from third party status, to official opposition and then dashed hopes of forming government in 2015. Although the study offers important new insights to the literature on the NDP, its empirical richness and methodological rigour make it an authoritative account of how modern campaigns are conducted in Canada more generally. The study’s methodological rigour, including the combination of theory with a mixed methods approach that draws upon a remarkable range of original data, establishes a high standard for future research in this field.