Rita Celli is host of the province-wide radio phone-in show ONTARIO TODAY, airing weekdays at noon on CBC Radio One. 

Warm, smart, and tough, Rita is a veteran journalist who dives into all kinds of debates in this lively radio forum. 

In 2018, she received an award of excellence for Daring to Ask about Abortion: Women and Men Talk. "Your journalism is courageous and truthful," Jennifer Blake CEO, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC).

In 2014, the Governor General presented Rita with the Michener-Deacon Fellowship for Investigative Journalism. Her investigation on mining royalties received global attention. 

"You're a very brave soul for tackling what I suspect other journalists would consider tantamount to spending an eternity in Dante's nine circles of hell. You're the only one on planet earth that's figured out it was that particular figure and now they've admitted it," Queen's University tax specialist Arthur Cockfield.

With Rita at the helm, ONTARIO TODAY has earned a number of awards including three Gracie Awards for Outstanding Talk Show (2013, 2011, 2010), a Gabriel Award (2011), the RTNDA Sam Ross Award for Editorial Writing/Commentary (2009) and a silver medal in the International Breaking News category at the New York Festival (2008).

In 2000, Rita Celli was part of a CBC team that won an investigative award from the Canadian Association of Journalists. The team exposed child sexual abuse and cover-ups in Cornwall Ontario. The CBC investigation is widely quoted in a provincial inquiry that examined how institutions failed to respond to abuse allegations.

Prior to ONTARIO TODAY, she held a number of positions at CBC on both radio and television, including anchor of CBC Ottawa's supper hour news.

Born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario, Celli graduated from Carleton University's Journalism program in 1991. She has performed in a number of Ottawa-based theatre productions.