Tonight the National Magazine Awards Foundation (NMAF) presented the winners of the 36th annual National Magazine Awards at a gala this evening in Toronto at The Carlu, presented by CDS Global, and hosted by Canadian actor Zaib Shaikh. Gold, Silver and Honourable Mention awards were presented in 47 categories, after the NMAF’s 250 volunteer judges evaluated 2000 submissions from nearly 200 Canadian consumer magazines.
[Version française]
[Complete list of winners PDF]
[36th NMA Gold Book]
The coveted award for Magazine of the Year went to Corporate Knights. Honourable Mention for Magazine of the Year was awarded to Cottage Life, UPPERCASE and Urbania.
The award for Tablet Magazine of the Year went to Canadian House & Home for their “Colour Issue” from March 2012.
The award for Magazine Website of the Year went to Hazlitt, the online literary magazine published by Random House Canada.
Renowned Canadian editor, teacher and mentor Stephen Trumper was presented with the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement.
The winner of the award for Best New Magazine Writer was Sierra Skye Gemma, for her story “The Wrong Way” published in The New Quarterly.
Top Winning Magazines at the 36th National Magazine Awards:
| Magazine |
Gold |
Silver |
HM |
| L’actualité |
6 |
0 |
18 |
| The Grid |
5 |
2 |
15 |
| The Walrus |
4 |
2 |
17 |
| Hazlitt |
3 |
0 |
1 |
| Report on Business |
2 |
5 |
13 |
| Maisonneuve |
2 |
3 |
9 |
| Maclean’s |
2 |
2 |
16 |
| Corduroy |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Toronto Life |
1 |
4 |
24 |
| Sportsnet |
1 |
2 |
7 |
| Eighteen Bridges |
1 |
1 |
8 |
| Canadian House & Home |
1 |
1 |
5 |
| Explore |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| Reader’s Digest |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| The Feathertale Review |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Québec Science |
0 |
2 |
1 |
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AWARDS
The article “Building with the Brigadier” (Report on Business) by Greg McArthur and Graeme Smith—about the SNC-Lavalin investment in Libya—was the most celebrated individual article of the 36th National Magazine Awards, winning two Gold Awards, in Business and in Investigative Reporting, as well as Silver in Politics & Public Interest.
The Gold award for Best Single Issue went to The Feathertale Review (“Issue 9”), the Toronto-based independent arts magazine. The Silver went to Toronto Life (“The Loneliest Man in Toronto”).
The Gold award for the best Magazine Cover of the year went to Adbusters for their fast food satire “Are We Happy Yet?” by Will Brown and Pedro Inoue. “Issue 45” of Maisonneuve by Anna Minzhulina took the Silver award.
The new online literary magazine Hazlitt, in addition to winning Magazine Website of the Year, also took the Gold awards for Magazine Website Design and for best Online Video, the latter for the first installment of their interview series “Pagelicker 01: Irvine Welsh.”
Journalist Catherine Dubé of L’actualité won her eighth National Magazine Award with a Gold in Service: Health & Family, for “Faut-il interdire le cellulaire à l’école?” – one of six Gold awards won by L’actualité, the most of any magazine.
Journalists from L’actualité also won Gold in Politics & Public Interest (“Jason, le missionaire de Harper” by Alec Castonguay); in Service: Personal Finance & Business (“La guerre des retraites est commencée” by Annick Poitras); in Profiles (“L’étoffe d’un premier ministre?” by Noémi Mercier); in Photojournalism & Photo Essay (“Au coeur d’Attawapiskat” by Renaud Philippe); and in Spot Illustration (“Papa souffre, moi aussi” by Gérard Dubois).
The Grid led all publications with 7 total awards, including 5 Gold Awards: in Editorial Package: Web for their feature “Are You Going to Eat That?”; in Single Service Article Package for “The Grid Guide to Getting Hitched”; in How-To for “The Grid Guide to Buying a Condo”; in Creative Photography for “Truckin’ A!” by Angus Rowe MacPherson; and in Art Direction of a Single Magazine Article, for “Chef’s Guide to Toronto” by Vanessa Wyse.
Corduroy, an independent style and fashion magazine based in Toronto, won Gold for Art Direction of an Entire Issue (“Issue 10”) and in Fashion (“ten covers x ten models”), with art direction by Peter Ash Lee.
Writer Chris Turner led all individuals with four nominations and won Gold in Travel for “On Tipping in Cuba” in The Walrus. Mr. Turner has now won nine National Magazine Awards.
The Walrus won 6 total awards including 4 Gold: in addition to the Travel category, also winning Gold in Illustration (“Apocalypse Soon” by Sam Weber); in One-of-a-Kind (“What Would Tommy Douglas Think?” by Tom Jokinen); and in Society (“Fade to Light” by Dave Cameron).
In Words & Pictures the Gold award went to “On Thin Ice” in Canada’s History, by Terry Mosher (a.k.a. Aislin), Mark Reid and Michel Groleau.
Writer Alison Motluk won Gold in Health & Medicine for her story “Is Egg Donation Dangerous?” in Maisonneuve. For Ms. Motluk this is her third National Magazine Award. The Montreal quarterly’s other Gold award came in the category Best Short Feature, for “Notes from the End of the War” by Jonathan Montpetit.
In Fiction the Gold went to Alberta novelist Caroline Adderson for her short story “Ellen-Celine, Celine-Ellen” published in Canadian Notes & Queries. Former Governor General Literary Award winner Patrick deWitt won the Silver for “The Looking-Ahead Artist” in Brick.
In Poetry the Gold winner was former Governor General Literary Award winner Karen Connelly for her poem “The Speed of Rust, or, He Marries” in Geist. Sue Goyette won the Silver for her series of “Fashion” poems in Prairie Fire.
The story “Whale Rising” by Jeff Warren in Reader’s Digest was a double winner, taking Gold in Science, Technology & Environment and Silver in Essays.
Sportsnet took the Gold in Editorial Package: Print, for “Sports that can kill.” Québec Science won Silver for “50 défis pour 2050.”
Emma Teitel of Maclean’s won the Gold award in Columns. Ms. Teitel won Honourable Mention last year in the category Best New Magazine Writer.
Six of the ten finalists in the new category Blogs were from Maclean’s, with the blog “Science-ish” by Julia Belluz—a former winner of the National Magazine Award for Best Student Writer—winning Gold. Paul Wells won the Silver for “Inkless Wells.”
In Portrait Photography the Gold went to “Never Left Art School,” a series of portraits of artist Douglas Coupland by Mark Peckmezian for Montecristo.
The new French-language literary magazine Nouveau Projet won its first National Magazine Award for “Faux self mon amour” by Fanny Britt in the category Personal Journalism.
Eighteen Bridges gained ten nominations and won Gold in Humour for “The Hairs about our Secrets” by Jessica Johnson.
Toronto Life led all publications with 29 nominations, winning a Gold in Arts & Entertainment for “Something Borrowed” by Leah McLaren.
The new Globe & Mail magazine Globe Style Advisor won its first National Magazine Award, a Gold in the category Beauty for “Lady Obscura.”
Also winning Gold Awards:
- In Essays: “Precious Cargo” by Craig Davidson, Avenue.
- In Homes & Gardens: “The Healthy House” by Shai Gil and Karen Simpson, Azure.
- In Service: Lifestyle: “La mâle bouffe” by Sophie Marcotte, ELLE Québec.”
- In Sports & Recreation: “Into the Light” by Conor Mihell, Explore.
- In Still-Life Photography: “Of Steel, Flesh and Bone” by Adrian Armstrong and Adam Taylor, Sharp.
Visit magazine-awards.com for the complete list of winners and to download the commemorative 36th National Magazine Awards Gold Book.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The National Magazine Awards Foundation acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage, as well as financial support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation. The National Magazine Awards Foundation gratefully acknowledges its suppliers and its contributors who donated gifts in kind to support the awards program. We thank them for their generosity, interest and expertise.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS FOUNDATION
The National Magazine Awards Foundation is a bilingual, not-for-profit institution whose mission is to recognize and promote excellence in the content and creation of Canadian print and digital publications through an annual program of awards and national publicity efforts. magazine-awards.com
It is great to see The National Magazine Awards Foundation recognizing and supporting the Canadian talent and creative in the print and digital publications. We have some of the most amazing creative genius at home and they should be applaud for their work. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees this year!