The Globe and Mail has won the 2005 Michener Award for public service in journalism -- to my mind, the most prestigious award in Canadian journalism.

An excerpt:

The national newspaper won for two series of stories about breast cancer by reporter Lisa Priest.

One project dealt with the drug Herceptin, prompting provincial governments to fast-track the approval process and expand use of the drug.

A second series about breast cancer screening machines prompted provincial governments to impose tighter regulations on clinics and compelled many clinic owners to pass a national quality test.

The Michener-Deacon Fellowship was presented to Montreal-based freelance writer Julian Sher, who will investigate child pornography.

Mr. Sher is a documentary film producer, author of three investigative books and creator of JournalismNet.

The fellowship provides $25,000 for four months of work on a project.

Michener citations of merit were awarded to:

— The Canadian Medical Association Journal for an investigation into a highly personal screening form developed by pharmacists counselling women seeking the emergency contraceptive drug Plan B.

— Montreal La Presse for a series of stories that revealed serious security problems on the city's subway system, including rising crime levels.

— Radio-Canada for an investigation of two Hydro-Quebec power facilities in northern Quebec that showed a serious lack of security at the huge dams.

— The Toronto Star for a series of stories on the sloppy work of a pediatric pathologist that led to the jailing of an Ontario woman who was later released on bail after then-Justice Minister Irwin Cotler concluded that there had been a miscarriage of justice in his case.

— The Victoria Times-Colonist and the Vancouver Sun, working independently, each produced a series of stories about problems affecting child protection in British Columbia.

Bravo to all news outlets, awarded, cited or not, that produced journalism in 2005 that resulted in their communities, or Canadian society itself, becoming even incrementally better.