Chris Turner has won the $30,000 National Business Book Award for his book The Patch, which explores the politics and people involved with the development of the northern Alberta oilsands.

The National Business Book Award annually recognizes a Canadian business book of nonfiction. The prize praised Turner for offering a "balanced perspective on the often-polarizing national debate."

"With two conflicting world views — one of industrial triumph, the other of environmental concerns in the age of climate change — Turner explains the history, science and context surrounding one of the world's largest engineering projects and its significance for all Canadians," said the prize in a press release.

The prize was judged this year by former CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge, Deirdre McMurdy, David Denison, Anna Porter, Pamela Wallin and Leonard Waverman.

Turner, a writer from Calgary, has been a finalist for this prize twice before, for his books The Leap and The Geography of Hope.