The Joan Hollobon Award for beat reporting is a part of the National Newspaper Awards which recognizes the absolute best from across Canada! The Globe and Mail sponsored the award in Joan’s name.

Sean Fine, the legal reporter for The Globe and Mail, won that honour. The 2022 National Newspaper Awards were presented on 5 May 2023.

To many Globe staffers, like Andre Picard, Joan is seen as an absolute legend as a health reporter and a trailblazing woman. This photo of Joan is from 1956 when she first joined The Globe and Mail and it was featured in the initial announcement of the Award. Here’s what the prize said:

“The Beat Reporting award will be named after Joan Hollobon. As the Globe and Mail's medical reporter from 1959 to 1985, Joan set the standard for what beat reporting should be. She developed expertise that allowed her to tackle breaking news, investigative pieces and explanatory articles with equal ease, and earned the (sometimes grudging) respect of the physicians, scientists and politicians she covered. As one of the first women on the medical beat, she also blazed a trail for generations that would follow. Joan is 102, lives in Toronto and was recently awarded the Order of Canada.”