The Michener Award is one of the highest distinctions in
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
journalism. The award was founded in 1970 by
Roland Michener, who was
Governor General of Canada
The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...
at the time, and his wife
Norah. The idea for the award was developed in 1969 with Bill MacPherson, then president of the National Press Club and managing editor of the ''
Ottawa Citizen'', who remained a secretary of the committee administering the award until his death. Since 1970, the Michener Award has been presented yearly by the Governor General at
Rideau Hall to a Canadian news organization "whose entry is judged to have made a significant impact on public policy or on the lives of Canadians".
Although the award is presented to media organizations rather than individual journalists, five individuals of the nominated finalists are invited to the award ceremony so that their contributions can also be acknowledged. Since 1987, the
Michener Foundation also awards annually the Michener-Deacon Fellowship, which provides financial support to a journalist wishing to complete a project that serves the Canadian public interest. The fellowship is named in honor of Roland Michener and late journalist Paul Deacon.
Past winners
Where multiple winners are combined in the table below, the winning work was a collaborative joint project of both news organizations. If two distinct pieces simply finished in a tie, then each work is listed on a separate line.
See also
*
List of awards presented by the governor general of Canada
References
External links
Home page of the Michener Awards Foundation
{{Canadian Honours System
1970 establishments in Canada
Canadian journalism awards