The Globe and Mail has won the 2004 Michener Award "meritorious public service" for its coverage of the sponsorship controversy.

Here's an excerpt from the Michener Awards Foundation news release:

The Globe and Mail won for the newspaper’s relentless investigation of the federal sponsorship scandal which began with reporter Daniel Leblanc’s access to information request more than four years ago and continued through 2004. The newspaper also won a Citation of Merit for another entry.

The Michener-Deacon Fellowship was presented to Jenny Manzer, a freelance journalist from Victoria, B.C., for her proposal to study and produce a series of articles about Canada’s drug approval and monitoring system. The fellowship provides $25,000 for four months’ work on an approved project.

Mr. Bergeron said the finalists were selected from 51 entries, representative of large and small news organizations from across Canada. He said that the excellent quality of the entries was an indication of the high calibre of public service journalism being done in Canada.

Launched in 1970 under the auspices of Canada's third Canadian Governor General, the late Roland Michener, the award focuses on the degree of public benefit generated by media projects, both large and small, in print and broadcast. The annual award is open to daily and weekly newspapers, news agencies, radio and television stations and networks as well as periodicals. The winners are chosen on the basis of hard-hitting impact, journalistic professionalism, and the resources available for the project.

Citations of merit were awarded for five other stories:

Calgary Herald: An eight-page investigative report, "The Direct Sell", was the result of a year's worth of work by business reporter Grant Robertson. The report explored the deceptive marketing practices of Direct Energy, a U.K.-based company that was poised to become the energy supplier to four out of every five Alberta homes. After the report was published the Alberta government reinstated a consumer education program and Direct Energy announced a number of changes in its sales tactics, including independent monitoring.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: “Faint Warning" was a unique CBC investigative project to evaluate the federal government's adverse drug reaction reporting system. It took five years and many legal appeals under the access to information law to obtain the government's 37-year database of adverse drug reaction reports. A searchable version of this database has been posted on CBC.ca, the corporation's web site. After the series was broadcast, the number of adverse drug reactions to Heath Canada increased sharply as did the number of alerts issued by the department. The federal health minister has vowed to make it mandatory for doctors to report serious and unexpected adverse drug reactions.

Canadian Medical Association Journal and Découverte (Radio-Canada science program): The Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and Découverte were selected jointly for their reports on the outbreak of Clostridium difficile, a hospital-acquired infection, in Quebec hospitals. CMAJ reporter Laura Eggertson broke the story in June with her report that at least 79 patients had died of the infection. As a result, the Quebec Ministry of Health struck a committee of experts which recommended a number of changes to hospital protocols. In October, Découverte aired a report on the virulence of the strain of Clostridium difficile, which had just been established, and identified it as a possible cause of the deaths of 600 hospital patients in one year. Following the report the Quebec health minister formed a surveillance committee and reviewed policies on the use of antibiotics. The Public Health Agency of Canada announced the launch of a surveillance program at 25 major Canadian hospitals.

The Globe and Mail: Investigations of the insurance and mutual funds industries by teams of reporters from the Report on Business disclosed improper use of funds and had significant results. In November, property and casualty insurers announced that they would disclose all commission practices and send a brochure to every policy holder in the country outlining relationships with independent brokers. In December, four of Canada's largest mutual fund companies and three major brokerages agreed to pay $200 million in restitution to investors in a settlement with securities regulators. 

The Independent (Newfoundland and Labrador): A cost-benefit analysis of Confederation published over a period of six weeks required a significant commitment of resources by a relatively small weekly newspaper. The analysis indicated that rest of Canada has benefited much more than Newfoundland from the province's decision to join Canada in 1949. The Independent's work was widely reported in other media across the country. While some economists have disputed the results, the newspaper's work was a significant contribution to the debate about equalization and Newfoundland and Labrador's place in Canada.