Denise Davy is a nationally recognized award-winning journalist who specializes in writing about mental health, homelessness and gender issues. She worked at the Hamilton Spectator for 26 years and was twice honoured with the Journalist of the Year award by the Ontario Newspaper Association and is a recipient of a National Newspaper Award, several Ontario Newspaper Association awards and two awards from the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario.

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Judges noted her compelling coverage of health and social issues, and she has also been honoured for her column writing, humour writing and investigative reporting.

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She is the recipient of four national journalism fellowships, which allowed her to investigate child prostitution in Thailand (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development Fellowship); poverty and family planning programs in India (Asia Pacific Fellowship) and children in poverty in Canada (Canadian Institute for Health Information Fellowship).

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In 1993, the Canadian Association of Journalists awarded her for co-founding the National Women in the Media conference. The next year Denise filed an Ontario Human Rights complaint against the Hamilton YMCA, which was the last all-male Y in North America. The Y agreed to change its policy and allow women to become members.

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That victory, along with her work on the conference and her wide-ranging coverage of women’s issues earned Denise the Women of the Year award in the Communications category from the Statues of Women Committee of Hamilton.

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Denise’s writing has also appeared in Chatelaine magazine, CBC Hamilton, Broadview magazine, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and ParentsCanada. Her story on adoption appeared in the book The Lucky Ones.

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She is the founder of Purses for Margaret, which provides toiletries to homeless women. She lives in Burlington, ON.