TORONTO – Media studies researcher Andrea Benoit is the winner of this year’s National Business Book Award.

The doctoral candidate at Western University received the $30,000 honour for her look at corporate philanthropy in the cosmetics industry.

Published by University of Toronto Press, “Viva MAC: AIDS, Fashion, and the Philanthropic Practices of MAC Cosmetics” recounts how the Canadian makeup brand built social responsibility into its business model.

Benoit, an academic review officer in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Arts and Science, was recognized at a virtual awards ceremony on Wednesday.

Founded in 1985, the National Business Book Award toasts the best business-related title published the previous year.

This year’s runners-up are: Entrepreneur Arlene Dickinson for “Reinvention: Changing Your Life, Your Career, Your Future” (HarperCollins Publishers); University of Toronto professor Wendy Dobson for “Living with China: A Middle Power Finds Its Way” (University of Toronto Press); and labour activist John Stefanini for “More Than We Bargained For: An Untold Story of Exploitation, Redemption, and The Men Who Built a Worker’s Empire” (Sutherland House).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2020.