HALIFAX -- The RCMP officer killed in Nova Scotia’s mass shooting has posthumously received an award for her work in preventing impaired driving.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada has posthumously awarded the Terry Ryan Memorial Award for Excellence in Police Services to Const. Heidi Stevenson, who was killed while responding to the mass shooting in April.

The award was established in memory of Const. Terry Ryan, an Ontario RCMP officer who died in a two-vehicle, alcohol-related collision while on his way home from a police function in May 2002.

MADD Canada says the award is presented annually and recognizes exemplary service by a police officer in reducing impaired driving incidents.

“Constable Stevenson was a shining example of a dedicated police officer,” states MADD Canada in a news release. “The Cole Harbour detachment of the RCMP is one of the busiest in Eastern Canada and the demands on a front-line police officer are great. Despite this, Constable Stevenson always made sure to make the enforcement of impaired driving laws a priority in her daily activities.”

According to the release, Stevenson sought out additional training, including the RCMP’s Drug Recognition Evaluator Program, and was one of a select few officers chosen to be become an instructor on evidentiary breath training, standardized field sobriety testing and drug recognition.

John MacLeod, a constable with the Halifax Regional Police and president of the Halifax chapter of MADD Canada, recently presented Stevenson’s husband and children with the award.

Stevenson becomes the seventh Nova Scotia police officer to be honoured with the national award.

The 48-year-old Stevenson was killed on April 19 after she rammed her RCMP cruiser into the vehicle being driven by a gunman disguised as an RCMP officer.

Stevenson was one of the 22 victims who lost their lives during the killing spree, which began April 18 in Portapique, N.S.