Bolan has won or "been shortlisted for" 15 awards.

Bolan won the Courage in Journalism Award presented by the International Women's Media Foundation in 1999.

In 2000, the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom (the National Press Club of Canada) presented its 1st Press Freedom Award (1999) to Bolan for continuing her investigations after she was "...threatened with violence and placed under police protection during her investigative reporting on the Air India bombing." David Kilgour, then Secretary of State, presented the award and concluded by saying "Today, in recognition of her strength of character, professionalism and courage to continue in her role as a leading journalist in the face of threats and other forms of extreme intimidation, the National Press Club of Canada is pleased to award the Press Freedom Award to Kim Bolan of the Vancouver Sun."

In 2006 PEN Canada presented her with the Paul Kidd Courage Prize

Reporting on her speech at the Fraser Institute in 2007, The Times of India reported that Bolan still received death threats over her coverage of the 1985 Air India bombing.

In February 2007, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper caused "a political storm" by trying to read part of a Bolan article into the record of the Canadian House of Commons. He was suggesting his Liberal opponents were refusing to extend anti-terrorism measures in order to protect the father-in-law of a Member of Parliament.

Kim Bolan's first book, "Loss of Faith: How the Air-India Bombers Got Away With Murder", was published in 2005.