Joan M. Roberts, former Bell Canada phone-operator union organizer, has won this year’s Alison Prentice Award. Administered by the Ontario Historical Society, the prize honours the best book on women’s history in Ontario published in the last three years.

The Toronto-based author was recognized for her 2015 title Cracked: How Telephone Operators Took on Canada’s Largest Corporation… And Won (Dundurn Press), which tells of the Bell Canada union drive and strike that reformed women’s workplace rights. She received her prize at a June 11 ceremony at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.