TORONTO — Policing, the opioid crisis and internet security are among the hot-button topics covered by the titles on this year's Donner Prize short list.

Organizers named five finalists on Wednesday for the $50,000 award for the best public policy book by a Canadian. 

Criminologist Maurice Cusson is nominated for "Sécurité, liberté et criminalité" about issues in contemporary policing.

Ronald Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, is in the running for his look at the troubling implications of digital data in "Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society."

Ottawa addiction doctor Brodie Ramin earned a nod for "The Age of Fentanyl: Ending the Opioid Epidemic."

Rounding out the short list are Simon Fraser University professor Mark Jaccard's "Citizen’s Guide to Climate Success: Overcoming Myths that Hinder Progress," and "The Machinery of Government: Public Administration and the Liberal State" by University of Toronto philosophy professor Joseph Heath.

The winner will be announced May 19.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2021.

The Canadian Press