Aaron Boley and Michael Byers

Michael Byers and Aaron Boley have won the 2023 Donner Prize for their book on the sustainable development of space.

The annual $60,000 award recognizes the best book about public policy written by a Canadian. Donner Canadian Foundation chair Gregory Belton announced the winner at a gala event in Toronto on May 8.

In Who Owns Outer Space? International Law, Astrophysics, and the Sustainable Development of Space (Cambridge University Press), Byers, an international lawyer, and Boley, an astrophysicist, take a look at humanity’s expansion into space, identifying and exploring challenges.

In their citation, the Donner jury praised the book as an accessible one that “provid[es] a grounding in a field of law and policy, which is essential to the age we live in. The topic is vital, the analysis is thorough, and the finer points of law are meticulously explained.”

This year’s jury was comprised of chair Louise Fréchette and jurors Neil Desai, Jack Mintz, Maureen O’Neil, Karen Restoule and Frederic Wien.

Who Owns Outer Space was one of five books shortlisted for this year’s prize. The other finalists (Abdi Aidid and Benjamin Alarie, Joanna Baron and Christine Van Geyn, Ignacio Cofone, and Kent Roach) each receive $7,500.