The winner of the inaugural Canadian Association of Journalists’ labour reporting award is Huffington Post Canada’s Rachel Mendleson, whose article, “Canada income inequality and the decline of unions,” describes how unionized workers turn “bad jobs into better jobs” as a key to a fairer distribution of income.

It was the first year for the award, jointly sponsored by the Canadian Media Guild and its parent union CWA Canada. Mendleson was one of four nominees, with CBC Windsor’s Kim Johnson, Hamilton Spectator’s Steve Buist and Toronto Life’s Nicholas Hune-Brown rounding out the list.

“We are so pleased at the quality of the nominations,” says CMG president Carmel Smyth. “Labour reporting is not a common beat and the award is meant in part to encourage more of it. It’s also an important occasion to recognize the work that is being done, which is impressive.”

The award, worth $1,000 and administered by the Canadian Association of Journalists, was presented at the recent CAJ annual conference in Toronto. Congratulations to all CAJ award winners.