Peter Mansbridge, CBC News chief correspondent, is to receive an award for excellence in Arctic journalism. (CBC)

CBC News chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge has been announced as the winner of the first ITK Award for Excellence in Arctic Journalism.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, an organization that works for the cultural and political advancement of the Inuit, named him winner Friday for his series of CBC Road Stories about the Arctic, broadcast in 2006 and 2007.

Mansbridge and his production team were recognized for three reports that documented scientific work being done in the Arctic to address climate change, said national Inuit leader Mary Simon.

Mansbridge "demonstrated understanding of the complex issues in the Canadian Arctic, and how the Inuit of Canada are central to the story of the Arctic, both in a historic and contemporary sense," she said.

In 2006, Our Changing Arctic was broadcast from the Canadian Coast Guard ship Louis St. Laurent. And in 2007, Arctic Nights was broadcast from the Canadian Coast Guard ship Amundsen.

Another report, The Big Melt, chronicled the climate change story from the perspective of Inuit living on Baffin Island.

The award will be presented Jan. 14 at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.