Laurier Brantford’s Golden Hawk Honey brings home the gold in regional competition

Nov. 11, 2025
For Immediate Release

BRANTFORD — Wilfrid Laurier University’s Golden Hawk Honey, harvested from apiaries on the roof of the One Market building at the Brantford campus, has won first place at the district level of the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies honey competition. It will go on to compete at the provincial level in February 2026. 

The award joins a growing list of honours for Golden Hawk Honey, including a third-place finish among 62 honeys in the Ontario Women’s Beekeeping Network honey competition in September and fifth place at the prestigious Royal Winter Fair in Toronto earlier this month.  

“This is only our third Golden Hawk Honey harvest, so it’s incredible that our bees are already competing at this level,” said Christine McKinlay, Laurier’s associate director of development and volunteer apiary manager at the Brantford campus. “After all, the bees are the ones that do all the work. My job as a beekeeper is to make sure they stay healthy.” 

McKinlay started beekeeping as a hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic but has now taken responsibility for nurturing the 320,000 honeybees who call the rooftop of One Market home. She’s supported by a team of Laurier Brantford volunteers who join her in performing regular hive inspections, administering medicines and miticides as needed, and harvesting the honey. 

“Golden Hawk Honey serves as a great introduction to pollination for our students, staff and faculty,” said Eric Meliton, manager of Laurier’s Sustainability Office. “It provides a unique opportunity to tackle pollinator decline firsthand through sustainable beekeeping.” 

Up to three-quarters of food crops grown for human consumption depend on, or benefit from, animal pollinators like honeybees. 

The One Market apiary, which launched in 2022 with support from the university’s Sustainable Hawk Fund, played a role in earning Laurier Brantford a Green Business Award from the City of Brantford in 2024. 

This year’s award-winning batch of Golden Hawk Honey was harvested in July and August and reflects the local botanicals in season at that time. According to a honey sommelier McKinlay consulted, one of the dominant flavours is basswood, a tree common to Brantford and a flavour that’s particularly desirable among honey connoisseurs.  

“In competition, judges are looking for everything from a honey’s taste to the appearance of its container,” said McKinlay. “It’s a really fun challenge to make each jar of Golden Hawk Honey as perfect as possible.” 

A limited supply of Golden Hawk Honey is available for purchase at the Hawk Shop in the Research and Academic Centre West (150 Dalhousie St.) on Laurier’s Brantford campus and online.