His debut novel Down to the Dirt won the Percy Janes First Novel Award, was shortlisted for the Atlantic Book Award and the Winterset Award, and was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and the ReLit Award. The novel was subsequently adapted into the film Down to the Dirt, in which Hynes also played the lead role. The unabridged audiobook edition of Down to the Dirt narrated by Johnny Harris, Joel Thomas Hynes and Sherry White was recorded by Rattling Books in 2006. Down to the Dirt has been translated into numerous languages and adapted to stage.

Hynes was named Artist of the Year by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council in 2008, has received the Lawrence Jackson Writer’s Award, the Summerwork’s Theatre Festival’s Contra Guys Award, and also in 2008 won the Cuffer Prize. He has also played recurring characters on Republic of Doyle, Orphan Black, Mary Kills People and Frontier.