It feels like just yesterday when The Narwhal set out on a mission to report on the natural world in Ontario. On Tuesday, that effort was recognized by the Canadian Journalism Foundation, which awarded The Narwhal with this year’s CJF-Meta Journalism Project Digital News Innovation Award.

“The Narwhal manages to nail it: strong journalism, an innovative approach and undeniable impact,” jury chair Susan Harada, a journalism professor at Carleton University, said.

The jury celebrated The Narwhal’s secret sauce for this eastward expansion: our fundraising efforts to connect with readers who ultimately made this dream a reality.

“Building a bureau from scratch really gave us a chance to think about what was missing when it came to environmental coverage in Ontario,” bureau chief Denise Balkissoon said. “And it’s been really gratifying to have people respond so positively by reading our stories in droves and becoming members of The Narwhal.”

In addition to a growing cohort of members, The Narwhal’s Ontario expansion has been made possible thanks to support from the Metcalf Foundation, McConnell Foundation and Echo Foundation.

Readers have been coming to The Narwhal to dive into the work of Ontario reporters Emma McIntosh and Fatima Syed, who have been diligently documenting the Doug Ford government’s environmental cuts — breaking stories on everything from Ontario’s Greenbelt to the controversial Bill 23.

Emma’s work, which took a deep dive into the developers who would benefit from changes to Greenbelt protections, kicked off a series of investigations into Greenbelt land sales.

That body of dogged reporting, done in collaboration with our friends at the Toronto Star, was also named a finalist for the Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism by the Canadian Journalism Foundation.

Photojournalist Dustin Patar’s work capturing a fading Arctic icescape, published in The Narwhal, won the foundation’s inaugural Edward Burtynsky Award for climate photojournalism.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.