The Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award recognizes an educator in Canada who has demonstrated innovation and excellence in promoting mathematics education at the elementary, secondary, college or university level. This annual award is administered by the Fields Institute and comprises of a $5000 prize and inscription of the winner’s name on a plaque installed at the Institute. The winner of the award in 2016 was Prof. Jean-Marie De Koninck. 

Jean-Marie De Koninck is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of Université Laval. He is the author of 15 books and 143 papers in refereed journals. Since 2000, he chose to invest time and energy in math outreach. Thus, in 2000 and 2001, he hosted a weekly television show called "C'est mathématique!". In 2005, he created Science and Mathematics in Action (SMAC), a program designed to interest kids in math and science and to demystify mathematics in the general public. Included in the SMAC activities, we find a free online game (www.mathamaze.ca), and Show Math, a multimedia conference where humor and mathematics are at the forefront. Jean-Marie De Koninck was named Scientist of the year in 2005 by the Société Radio-Canada. As a service to the community, he created in 1984 Operation Red Nose, a public awareness campaign against impaired driving to which 58,000 Canadian volunteers participate each year. In recognition for his scientific and community achievements, Jean-Marie De Koninck became Member of the Order of Canada in 1994 and received the Ordre national du Québec in 1999; in 2014, he became Officer of the Order of Canada. He also obtained honorary doctorates from University of Moncton in 2010 and University of Ottawa in 2015.