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Melissa Tait is an award-winning visual journalist for The Globe and Mail, based in Toronto. As photojournalist and video journalist she films, photographs, and animates visuals for stories across the organization.

Melissa joined The Globe in 2015 after her tenure as multimedia editor at the Winnipeg Free Press and reporter/photographer at the Waterloo Region Record. She holds a diploma in photojournalism from Loyalist College and a BA in International Development from the University of Guelph. She was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario.

She is a three-time National Newspaper Award winner, receiving the Sports Photo award in 2021 for capturing the Canadian women’s Olympic soccer gold-medal victory, and again in 2023 for a celebratory image from the Canadian Cheer National Championships. In 2019, she earned an NNA for her breaking news coverage with Renata D'Aliesio during the RCMP manhunt for murder suspects in northern Manitoba. Her work has been frequently nominated for other NNAs. She was a finalist twice at the Online Journalism Awards, in the Large Newsroom Feature category in 2023 for her feature on Norman Restasket, a survivor of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School and in 2021 Digital Video Storytelling, Long Form with Timothy Moore for the Manhunt, Manitoba short documentary. Melissa has also been recognized by the Digital Publishing Awards and the National Pictures of the Year Awards from the News Photographers Association of Canada.

Besides gathering photos and video for work, Melissa enjoys gathering photos for friends and family (sometimes on film), drinking coffee, cooking new recipes, trying to keep house plants alive, and pretty much any sport.

14

Years in Journalism

9

Years at The Globe and Mail

Education

Loyalist College, Diploma in Photojournalism

University of Guelph, Bachelor of Arts, International Development

Honours & Awards

National Newspaper Award: Sports Photograph, 2023

Online Journalism Awards, Online News Association: Finalist, Large Newsroom, Feature, 2023

National Newspaper Award: Sports Photograph, 2021

Online Journalism Awards, Online News Association: Digital Video Storytelling, Long Form, 2021

Digital Publishing Award: Best Video, Mini-Doc 2021

Digital Publishing Award: Best Feature, 2020

National Newspaper Award: Breaking News Coverage, 2019

Professional affliations

Canadian Association of Journalists, News Photographers Association of Canada

Melissa Tait abides by The Globe and Mail Editorial Code of Conduct