Announcing the 2017 Digital Publishing Awards Nominees

The Digital Publishing Awards (DPAs) have announced the nominees for their 2017 awards program, recognizing excellence in the content and creation of Canadian digital publications.

Nominations Website
Nominations List (PDF)
Gala Info & Tickets
Version française

This year, 75 Canadian digital publications entered the DPAs, submitting entries representing the best of their digital content, design and innovation from the past year for consideration in 21 awards categories. For this year’s awards program, the DPAs have expanded the number of categories to better reflect the breadth of digital journalism in Canada.
67 judges volunteered their time, their expertise, and their passion for digital publishing in serving on this year’s jury. They have nominated 85 entries from 34 different digital publications for this year’s awards, as well as three standout candidates for the Emerging Excellence Award.

“What an incredible year for Canada’s digital publishers and creators. As I peruse the work nominated by our wonderful judges, I am blown away by the incredible talent, creativity, and innovation that characterizes each of this year’s nominees. Digital publishing in Canada has never been stronger or more effective in engaging readers. I look forward to welcoming our nominees and industry members to the DPA Soiree on June 1.”
– Nino Di Cara, president, Digital Publishing Awards

Nominations Highlights
The top nominees this year are:

Canadian Art, Global News, Hazlitt, Maclean’s, Policy Options, Today’s Parent and L’actualité earned two nominations each.
General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Small Publications
The top overall award–General Excellence in Digital Publishing–is presented in two divisions. The nominees for General Excellence: Small Publications, are:

canadianart.ca, Canadian Art
hakaimagazine.com, Hakai Magazine
liisbeth.com, Liisbeth
nationalobserver.com, National Observer
torontolife.com, Toronto Life
YMC.ca, YMC: Motherhood Unfiltered

General Excellence in Digital Publishing: Large Publications
The nominees for General Excellence: Large Publications, are:

cbcnews.ca, CBC News
theglobeandmail.com, The Globe and Mail

First-time nominees
Numerous publications received a first nomination this year, including:

More highlights
For the second year in a row, Air Canada enRoute’s “Best New Restaurants” guide is nominated, this year for Best Digital Editorial Package.
TorontoLife.com is nominated for the second time in the Best Digital Design category.
The Maclean’s story “How to Go On, After Leonard Cohen” written by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall is nominated twice, in both Best Arts & Culture Story and Best Personal Essay.
The “Crichton Farm” piece published in The Globe and Mail is nominated twice, in both Best Short Feature and Best Social Storytelling.
Top entered news stories of 2016 include the fentanyl crisis, the Fort McMurray wildfires, cyber security, marijuana legalization and the Canadian real estate market.
Visit live.digitalpublishingawards.ca to view the nominations in all 21 categories.
Digital Publishing Leadership Award
The DPA jury has selected the inaugural recipient of the Digital Publishing Leadership Award. This prestigious recognition will be presented to Kenny Yum, managing editor of The Huffington Post Canada and AOL Canada. As a celebrated and widely-recognized leader, innovator and mentor, the DPAs are honoured to recognize Kenny’s contributions to the Canadian digital publishing industry.
Emerging Excellence Award
The DPAs are proud to present for the first time the Emerging Excellence Award, honouring an individual whose early work in Canadian digital publishing shows the highest degree of craft and promise. This year’s jury has nominated three standout individuals, with the single winner being announced at the Digital Publishing Award Soirée on Thursday June 1.The three candidates for the Emerging Excellence Award are:

Tom Cardoso of The Globe and Mail
Manisha Krishnan of VICE
Naël Shiab of L’actualité

Learn more about these three candidates here.

Visit live.digitalpublishingawards.ca to view the nominations in all 21 categories.

Credit Changes: Email info@digitalpublishingawards.ca to make any credit changes to your nomination. The deadline for credit changes is May 1, 2017.

Digital Publishing Awards Soirée
Gold, Silver and Honourable Mention awards will be presented at the Digital Publishing Awards soirée on Thursday, June 1 at the Spoke Club on King Street West in Toronto. Tickets cost $50 and on sale at digitalpublishingawards.com.

The host of the 2017 Digital Publishing Awards will be Evan Munday, author and illustrator of the series of novels for young adults The Dead Kid Detective Agency (ECW Press). The first two books in the series were both nominated for the Silver Birch Award. Evan currently works as community manager for Type Books, co-hosts an Archie Comics podcast, and draws a notable Canadian every day and posts the illustration on Twitter using the hashtag #365Canadians.

“I am both honoured and e-lated to host this night of Canada’s most clickable people – a celebration of excellence in the Canadian digital publishing I so joyfully consume. It’s a role I was destined to fill ever since publishing my first Nightcrawler fan fiction on Prodigy. Join us for the IRL good times!”
–Evan Munday

Digital Publishing Awards Soirée
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Doors open at 6PM, show starts at 7PM
Portland Room, Spoke Club
600 King St West, Toronto
Tickets on sale at digitalpublishingawards.ca
Acknowledgements
The National Media Awards Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund.
The National Media Awards Foundation offers its sincere thanks to the highly skilled professionals who generously contributed their time and expertise as judges of this year’s Digital Publishing Awards competition.
Sponsorship
For sponsorship inquiries, please contact Barbara Gould, Managing Director, at
info@digitalpublishingawards.ca or 416-939-6200.
ABOUT THE DIGITAL PUBLISHING AWARDS
Produced by the National Media Awards Foundation, the Digital Publishing Awards promote and reward the achievements of those who create digital publishing content in Canada—the writers and editors, designers and developers, video and podcast producers, photographers and illustrators, and many others. The DPA program recognizes, celebrates and promotes to a national audience the innovative publishing teams that produce digital content in Canadian media.
For further information about the Digital Publishing Awards, please contact Leah Jensen, Production Coordinator at 416.939.6200 or info@digitalpublishingawards.ca.