The 2018 National Magazine Awards Jury

The NMAF is pleased to announce the roster of judges for the 2018 awards program! Each year, the Foundation relies on the expertise of over 180 volunteer judges–editors, publishers, art directors, professors, writers, artists, journalists and readers of influence–to review the entries to the National Magazine Awards. THANK YOU to the individuals who volunteered their time and expertise to judge for the 41st National Magazine Awards!
2018 JURY
Click here to see the members of the Francophone Jury (Writing Awards).
Writing Awards (English), Visual Awards, Editorial Awards, and Best Magazine Awards:
 

Adrian Lee
Adrian Lee is the opinion editor, as well as the editor overseeing arts and science coverage, at Maclean’s.
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Afiya Francisco is a former magazine editor and leading style expert known for her fashion commentary and personable approach to tackling style questions. Afiya is a mom to two sons, Felix and Des.
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Alysa Procida is the Executive Director & Publisher of the Inuit Art Quarterly. Bringing a wealth of experience with Inuit art and non-profit leadership, Alysa Procida joined the IAF in 2015. Prior to becoming the Foundation’s Executive Director, Alysa was the Executive Director and Curator of the Museum of Inuit Art.
Amira Elghawaby.pngAmira Elghawaby is an award-winning journalist and human rights advocate. Along with frequent appearances on Canadian and international news networks, Amira has written and produced stories and commentary for CBC Radio, the Ottawa Citizen, the Toronto Star, the Literary Review of Canada, and the Globe and Mail. Amira spent five years promoting the civil liberties of Canadian Muslims as human rights officer and later, as director of communications, at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) between 2012 to the fall of 2017. Amira obtained an honours degree in Journalism and Law from Carleton University in 2001.
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Amy Rosen is an award-winning journalist and cookbook author, her latest book is Toronto Eats. She also owns Rosen’s Cinnamon Buns in Toronto.
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Andrea Bennett is the Editor-in-Chief of Maisonneuve, a Reader’s Digest contributor and the designer for PRISM international.
Andrew Braithwaite.jpgAndrew Braithwaite is a BC-born magazine journalist who covers food, wine, architecture and design from his current base in San Francisco. He’s a contributing editor of Azure, and has won multiple NMAs for his work on enRoute’s “Canada’s Best New Restaurants.”
Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 2.18.44 PM.pngAnna Ling Kaye has published internationally and been short-listed for the Journey Prize. She is a former editor at PRISM international and Ricepaper magazines, and recently guest-edited issue #143 of The New Quarterly magazine. Anna sits on the board of Project Bookmark Canada, and is co-founder of Hapa-palooza Festival, a celebration of mixed heritage and identity.
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Anna Minzhulina is an art director and design artist. For more than a decade she art directed and designed the Maisonneuve magazine. During that time, the publication has won the Magazine of the Year award twice. Many artists were nominated as well as rewarded for their work under her direction. Minzhulina herself was nominated multiple times and National Magazine awards for Best Cover, Best Issue, and Best Art Direction. She previously served as a judge for Still Life Photography category and Best Editorial Package.
Arnaud Granata.jpgArnaud Granata dirige le média spécialisé Infopresse qui couvre le monde du marketing, de la publicité et des médias au Québec. Infopresse produit et diffuse une large gamme de contenus (conférences, magazines, formations, concours, sites web) destinés aux professionnels de l’industrie. Arnaud est également auteur. Son dernier livre, Le pouvoir de l’échec a été publié en septembre 2016. Il est le concepteur et producteur au contenu de l’émission Dans les médias etest le concepteur et le journaliste de la série documentaire 30 secondes pour changer le monde à Télé-Québec. Il anime débats, tables rondes et entrevues et il commente aussi l’actualité des marques et des médias à l’émission Medium Large. On le voit régulièrement à la télé pour parler pub, consommation, médias et tendances.
Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 2.24.20 PM.pngBänoo Zan is a poet, translator, teacher, editor and poetry curator, with more than 160 published poems and poetry-related pieces as well as three books. Song of Phoenix: Life and Works of Sylvia Plath, was reprinted in Iran in 2010. Songs of Exile, her first poetry collection, was released in 2016 in Canada by Guernica Editions. It was shortlisted for Gerald Lampert Memorial Award by the League of Canadian Poets in 2017. Letters to My Father, her second poetry book, was published in 2017 by Piquant Press in Canada. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Toronto’s most diverse poetry reading and open mic series (inception: 2012). It is a brave space that bridges the gap between communities of poets from different ethnicities, nationalities, religions (or lack thereof), ages, genders, sexual orientations, disabilities, poetic styles, voices and visions.
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As Partner, Barb oversees projects for a diverse group of clients including Harry Rosen, University of Toronto, ROM, and ParticipAction. Barb is interested in strategic storytelling. A B.Des from OCAD University, Barb has a high profile within the graphic design community as a former chair of the Advertising & Design Club of Canada and as a speaker at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, York University and many other design associations. A multiple award-winning designer, she has taught at OCAD University and serves on numerous design juries.
Benjamin Hertwig.jpgBenjamin Hertwig was the recipient of a National Magazine Award in 2017, and his debut collection of poems, Slow War, was a finalist for the 2017 Governor General’s Award. His essays have appeared in places like the New York Times, NPR, the Walrus, Maisonneuve, and the Sun Magazine.
Bill_Whitelaw New.jpgBill Whitelaw is executive vice-president, business information, for Glacier Media, a Canadian publishing and information services company. In this role, Whitelaw oversees a variety of long-serving B2B brands such as The Daily Oil Bulletin, Oilweek, The Northern Miner and Western Producer. Whitelaw’s career spans more than three decades in the Canadian media space, including stints as reporter, editor and publisher. He is a graduate of Loyalist College, Queen’s University and the University of Calgary.
Screen Shot 2018-05-14 at 12.29.48 PM.pngCarolyn is an award-winning writer and communications specialist. Her feature articles have appeared in major national magazines including Toronto Life and
Reader’s Digest. As senior advancement communications officer at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine, she translates research and education priorities into compelling stories and engaging prose – writing for the UofTMed alumni magazine as well as for various other outlets. A graduate of Ryerson’s master’s of journalism program, Carolyn has worked as a current affairs producer for CBC Radio. She has lived and worked in Quebec and Latin America, and is fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Brian Morgan.jpgBrian Morgan, though he studied printmaking at art school, has worked as a graphic designer and an art director for the past 23 years, 17 of these in editorial design. He has worked for (or on) Maclean’s, Saturday Night, C, Dose, The Vancouver Review, and The Walrus. At this last publication, he was the art director for nine years. He also sat on the executive committee of the National Magazine Awards, as its secretary. He lives and works in Montreal.
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Cecil Rosner is Director of Investigative Journalism for CBC Regions. He has four decades experience in print and broadcast journalism, and for 13 years he was Managing Editor for CBC Manitoba. He has created and supervised documentaries, news and current affairs programs over the years, and specialized in investigative journalism. He is the co-author of When Justice Fails: the David Milgaard Story, and author of Behind the Headlines: a History of Investigative Journalism in Canada. He also teaches investigative journalism at the University of Winnipeg, where he is an adjunct professor.
CharlesDesGroseilliers-1.jpegCharles DesGroseilliers est directeur artistique dans le milieu éditorial depuis plus de 10 ans. Il a commencé par le magazine Commerce en 2007, avant de se voir confier la responsabilité de créer la grille ainsi qu’assumer la direction artistique des magazines Premium (2009), Les Affaires Plus (2010) et finalement le journal Les Affaires (2014). À travers les années, sa passion pour le design imprimé l’a amené à avoir à développer une expertise en vidéo, en illustration et en publicité.
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Charles Yao is the Art Director at Little Brother Magazine and the Director of Speakers at The Lavin Agency.
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Charlit Floriano is a Hamilton-based artist working in print and animation. She has contributed and art directed for The Feathertale Review.
Chelene Knight.jpgChelene Knight is a Vancouver born-and-raised graduate of The Writer’s Studio at SFU. In addition to being a workshop facilitator for teens, she is also a literary event organizer, host, and seasoned panelist. She has been published in various Canadian and American literary magazines, and her work is widely anthologized. Chelene is currently the Managing Editor at Room magazine, and the 2018 Programming Director for the Growing Room Festival. Braided Skin, her first book (Mother Tongue Publishing, March 2015), has given birth to numerous writing projects including her second book, memoir, Dear Current Occupant (BookThug, 2018). In 2016 Chelene worked with fiction mentor Jen Sookfong Lee to flesh out the first draft of a historical novel set Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley.
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Chelsea Murray is a Halifax-based writer and editor, and co-founder of The Deep Magazine.
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Christina Vardanis is the executive editor at Chatelaine, where she oversees features, projects and branded partnerships. Prior to joining the magazine in 2015, she spent 12 years at The Globe and Mail assigning and editing features for the National desk, ROB, Life & Arts and Focus.
Christopher Wahl.jpgChristopher Wahl is a working photographer living in Toronto, Canada. He has shot assignments for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, TIME, LIFE, and most Canadian magazines ever since the 1990’s. Christopher has been nominated for 17 national magazine awards and has never won gold. His work is part of many private and public collections, notably in Canada the permanent collection of The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
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Craig Silverman is a media editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in Toronto.
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Curtis Gillespie has won seven National Magazine Awards, edits Eighteen Bridges magazine, and is director of the Environmental Writing program at the Banff Centre. He lives in Edmonton.
D.B. Scott.jpgD. B. Scott (David) is president of Impresa Communications Limited of Cambridge, Ont., consultants to the magazine industry and the not-for-profit sector. He is the academic coordinator for magazine and web publishing at Ryerson University’s Chang School of Continuing Education. For 13 years he has published Canadian Magazines, a daily blog about the industry (www.canadianmags.blogspot.com ). He has been a frequent moderator and presenter at the MagNet industry conference, at Magazines Canada’s Business Media Summit, a frequent awards judge for the national and western awards as well as the International Regional Magazines Association (IRMA). He was president of the National Magazine Awards Foundation in 1991 and was presented with the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement — the industry’s highest individual honour — in 2010 .
David Beers.jpgDavid Beers is founding editor of the independent news site The Tyee. Beers was senior editor at Mother Jones, the San Francisco Examiner and the Vancouver Sun. His writing has won National Magazine Awards in the U.S. and Canada. He is adjunct professor at UBC Graduate School of Journalism and SFU School of Communication.
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David Dixon was born in Toronto, Canada and trained at the prestigious Ryerson University. He enjoys tremendous media acclaim and stands out among that of his Canadian contemporaries as one of the leaders in women’s fashion design. His designs are sold across Canada and in select boutiques around the globe. His innovative designs have won him a following among the elite communities of film and fashion. David Dixon has been featured in such publications as; Vogue, Marie Claire, Town & Country, Elle, Elle Canada, Flare, Dressed to Kill, Fashion, Zink, The Globe and Mail, and WWD to name a few. Dixon has also appeared on such media programming such as Fashion Television, Fashion File, Celebrity Style, MTV, and Project Runway.
 Screen Shot 2018-05-14 at 12.20.59 PMDavid Gutnick makes radio documentaries for CBC radio’s The Sunday Edition.  Over the past 32 years, he’s done hundreds of stories, from profiling child slaves in Togo to ballet-dancing prisoners in an American maximum-security prisons to the closing of a daily newspaper in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  David also writes about art and this year published a book for children, Mr. Mergler, Beethoven, and Me (Second Story Press).
Deanne G.jpgDeanne Gage is a Toronto-based editor and writer who has specialized in personal finance issues since 1999. She’s the editor of FORUM magazine, and is a money columnist for The Toronto Star. A recipient of several journalism awards, Deanne’s work has appeared in MoneySense, Chatelaine, Morningstar.ca, Today’s Parent, CPA magazine, and leading business-to-business publications.
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Denise Balkissoon is a weekly Opinion columnist and a reporter in the Globe’s Toronto section. The National Magazine Award-winning writer is also a co-founder of The Ethnic Aisle, a blog about race and ethnicity in the Greater Toronto Area
Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 3.00.12 PM.pngDerek Finkle founded Canadian Writers Group in 2009. After graduating from Princeton University, Derek became Toronto Life magazine’s first editorial intern in 1993. He went on to be a regular contributor to Saturday Night magazine and The Globe and Mail, among other publications, before publishing his first book, No Claim to Mercy, in 1998, which won the Crime Writers’ Arthur Ellis Award for best non-fiction and was named a Notable Book of the Year by The Globe and Mail. From 2002 to 2007, he was the editor of Toro magazine, which garnered more than 60 National Magazine Award nominations, including Finkle’s gold for investigative reporting in 2005.
Derek Webster is a freelance writer and editor, and the founding editor of Maisonneuve magazine.
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Dominique Ritter is the editor-in-chief of Reader’s Digest Canada. She has also worked at Bookmark (formerly Spafax), The Canadian Encyclopedia and Adbusters.
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Donna Griffith is an award-winning food, lifestyle and interiors photographer. Her work is frequently seen in Canadian House + Home, Style at Home, Canadian Living and other publications
Priscilla Settee.jpgDr. Priscilla Settee is Swampy Cree member of Cumberland House First Nations and a Professor of Indigenous Studies and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. She has won recognition nationally and internationally as an award-winning professor and as a global educator/activist. She is the author of two books Pimatisiwin, Global Indigenous Knowledge Systems(2013) that looks at global Indigenous Knowledge Systems and The Strength of Women, Ahkameyimohk(2011) that examines the role of Indigenous women’s stories in establishing truth, reconciliation and social change. Dr. Settee is working on her third book on Indigenous Food Sovereignty. She is a kohkum(grandmother) to Nya Lily and Lola Rose.
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Emily Landau is a senior editor at Toronto Life, where she handles features. She has written for Toronto Life, GQ, Esquire, The Walrus and Hazlitt.
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Emily M. Keeler is the Vice President of PEN Canada and the editor of Exploded Views, a nonfiction series from Coach House Books. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, Los Angeles Time, Toronto Life, The Walrus, Canadian Notes and Queries and The Literary Review of Canada.
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Enzo DiMatteo is Editorial Director at NOW Magazine. He was born in Belgium and emigrated to Canada in the heat of Trudeaumania. He cut his teeth in journalism in the 90s covering policing, politics and far-right movements. He is a winner of numerous writing awards.
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François Émond est directeur artistique du magazine Québec Science depuis 1999. Il a été directeur artistique aux éditions Transcontinental pendant 10 ans, particulièrement à la revue Commerce. Il a aussi travaillé au magazine L’actualité et à l’Office national du film en début de carrière. Il a étudié en communication graphique à l’Université Laval et à l’Université d’Alberta.
Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 3.24.14 PM.pngGary Ross is a former editor-in- chief of Saturday Night and Vancouver magazines and has been honoured with half a dozen National Magazine Awards, and has edited scores of award-winning articles by other writers. His books include the No. 1 nonfiction bestseller Stung: The Incredible Obsession of Brian Molony (which became the feature film Owning Mahowny, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman). His popular presentation, The Ross Rules, trains people in organizations to communicate more effectively.
Georges HaroutiunGeorges Haroutiun studied design in Copenhagen, Denmark, before emigrating to Montreal. He quickly found his passion was editorial design, and after working on a number of notable magazines, was lured to Toronto, which he has made his home ever since. In addition to founding Applied Arts Magazine in 1986, demand for his talent prompted him to found MAG Graphics, his magazine design consultancy, from which he also launched titles such as Images. Georges has worked at or consulted for magazines in every category, clients in Montreal, Toronto, New York
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Harley Rustad is an editor at The Walrus magazine. He has written for publications including Outside, the Globe and Mail, and Geographical. His first book, Big Lonely Doug, based off a silver National Magazine Award-winning feature in The Walrus, is out September 2018.
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Hudson Christie is a Toronto visual artist who works with photography and sculpture. Using paper and polymer clay, he creates miniature dioramas which he photographs and then archives or destroys, leaving the photograph as the prioritized record of his work. He has contributed to The New York Times, The Walrus, Maisonneuve Magazine, and the New Yorker, among others.
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Ian Cockfield is Managing Editor of EVENT magazine, an award-winning BC-based literary journal now in its 46th year of publication. He also runs EVENT’s Reading Service for Writers, and is a past fiction editor of PRISM international. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, was a past president of the Magazine Association of BC, and has been a freelance editor since 2003, editing for Anvil Press, UBC Press, Douglas College, and others.
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Jacqueline Kovacs is editor-in-chief of Metroland Media’s lifestyle magazines for York Region and Simcoe County, and previously was editor-in-chief of Professionally Speaking and deputy editor of Today’s Parent.


Jean-François Proulx is the creative director of Nouveau Projet and of the design studio Balistique. He has won three National Magazine Awards.

James Hewes lower res.jpgJames Hewes was a Publisher and Head of International at BBC Magazines. Part of the team that sold the business to private equity in November 2011, he was then Publishing Director for Top Gear, Good Food, Easy Cook and Lonely Planet Magazine and a Director of BBC Haymarket Exhibitions. He spent four years in Dubai, running Gulf News Publishing. Responsible for more than 30 product areas, he launched the group’s first consumer title in Arabic – wheels Arabic. Appointed President & CEO of FIPP in September 2017, he joined from The Art Newspaper, having been Interim CEO since December 2016.
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 Jan Wong is an award-winning Canadian journalist. In 1972, as a third-generation Montrealer, Jan Wong became the first Canadian to study in China during the Cultural Revolution. Her newest book is Apron Strings.
IMG_3228Janet Eger is a board director with the Writers’ Trust, a charitable organization that seeks to advance, nurture, and celebrate Canadian voices through the country’s writers and writing. She spent a decade with Indigo, Canada’s largest book retailer, as the Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications, and as a board director with the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation.  Prior to joining Indigo, Janet spent six years at Holt Renfrew where she oversaw Advertising and Public Relations, and five years at Canadian Pacific/Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, where she gained global communications experience while supporting 40 hotels in six countries. She has also worked in broadcast media. Born and raised in Calgary, now based in Toronto, Janet is an avid skier, traveller, and book lover.
Janice Stuckless
 Janice Stuckless is a lifelong writer and the longtime editor-in-chief of Downhome, an award-winning Newfoundland and Labrador lifestyle magazine with an international circulation and a 30th anniversary in June 2018.
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Jean-François Légaré is the Editor-in-chief of Air Canada enRoute.
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Jean-Nicolas Patoine est journaliste au quotidien Le Soleil.
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Jeremy Keehn is a features editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, and was previously the editor of NewYorker.com, digital director of Harper’s, and senior editor at The Walrus.
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Jessica Johnson is executive editor and creative director of The Walrus. She has previously worked as an editor for a number of Canadian magazines and newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, Saturday Night, Azure, FQ and the National Post. She is also a former marketing director for Hudson’s Bay. Her story “The Hairs About Our Secrets” in Eighteen Bridges won an NMA for humour in 2013.
John Milne
John Milne is president of Breakwell & Company, a national media consulting firm whose clients include both national and regional publishers, associations and media services suppliers.  Over a 35-year career in business publishing, John earned national writing awards as well as launching award-winning publications for both Maclean Hunter Limited and Rogers Publishing while effectively leading the transition from print to multiple platforms.
Johnny HughesJonny Hughes is a group art director for the London based travel media agency Ink. He has been working in content magazine publishing for the past 20 years across the fashion, retail, food and travel sectors and has won several awards for design and art direction. He lives in Southeast London with his wife and two children and is obsessed with photography and table tennis.
Jordan Ginsberg is the editor-in-chief of Hazlitt and a senior editor at Penguin Random House Canada
joyceJoyce Byrne is Group Publisher at RedPoint Media, where she oversees Avenue Calgary and other titles. Joyce has been the president of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association since 2014, and has also served as president of the NMAF and as a director of Magazines Canada. Before relocating to Canada’s sunniest city she was Vice President at Venture Publishing in Edmonton, but is originally from Toronto, where she began her magazine career at This Magazine, and has served 15 years as Taddle Creek’s proofreader.
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Jude Isabella is editor in chief of Hakai Magazine, an online publication that explores coastal science and societies. She writes about science and environment for readers big and small, with sojourns into videography. Next year, Kids Can Press will publish her latest book, which is about predators and ecology in Yellowstone National Park.
Julie Cailliau_photo_Daphne Caron High ResJulie Cailliau est rédactrice en chef du Groupe Les Affaires, qui publie le journal Les Affaires, le site lesaffaires.com, le magazine Les Affaires Plus et l’infolettre exclusive aux abonnés, le Bulletin privilège. Julie a fait ses débuts de journaliste en France, et elle poursuit cette passion au Québec depuis plus de 15 ans. Le fil conducteur de sa carrière est le goût d’apprendre et de communiquer ses découvertes.
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Kamal Al-Solaylee is an associate professor of journalism at Ryerson University where he teaches feature writing and creative nonfiction, among other courses. He’s the author of two award-winning books, Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes and Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone). He has written for several magazines and newspapers, including The Walrus, Toronto Life, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Elle Canada, Sharp and Quill & Quire.
Karen C.jpgKaren Christensen is Editor in Chief of Rotman Management magazine, published by the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. She and her team have won two silver national Magazine Awards: Art Direction for an Entire Issue (2009) and Best Single Issue (2014). She holds a BA in English from McGill University and attended Simon Fraser University’s Publishing Program.
Katherine Laidlaw
Katherine Laidlaw is a freelance writer for publications such as Outside, BuzzFeed, Marie Claire, Wired, Hazlitt and Toronto Life. She is a former senior editor of The Walrus magazine and has held masthead positions at Reader’s Digest Canada and Up Here.
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Kathy English is the public editor of the Toronto Star.
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Kim Fu’s first poetry collection How Festive the Ambulance received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and includes a Best Canadian Poetry selection and an NMA Silver Medal winner. Her poetry has appeared in Granta, CV2, PRISM International, Carousel, Canadian Literature, Grain, Room, the Rusty Toque, Ricepaper, and the New Quarterly. She is also the author of the novels For Today I Am a Boy, winner of the Edmund White Award and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and most recently, The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore.
Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 4.37.49 PM.pngKim Jernigan spent her working life as a tutor in the Writing Centre at The University of Waterloo where she also taught courses in literature, composition, and public speaking. On the side, she volunteered in the editorial ranks of The New Quarterly, a Canadian literary magazine, winning the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement from the National Magazine Awards on her retirement in 2014. She continues to keep a hand in as a contest adjudicator at The New Quarterly and a contributing editor at Canadian Notes and Queries.
Kim Shiffman.jpgKim Shiffman, a veteran of the Canadian magazine industry, has been at Today’s Parent and todaysparent.com since 2015, and is currently deputy editor. Previously, Kim served as managing editor at Connected Rogers and Allergic Living, and prior to that, she was senior online editor at Travelzoo and senior editor at Profit. Kim graduated from the University of Toronto and received a post-graduate diploma from Centennial College. She’s married and the mom of two boys.
Kristy Woudstra.pngKristy Woudstra is currently the Managing Editor of The UC Observer magazine. Her 20-year career has included working for The Huffington Post, Today’s Parent, Outdoor Canada, MoneySense as well as international development organizations. She has traveled the world to cover stories in countries like Niger, Uganda, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico and her writing has appeared in many Canadian publications including The Walrus, Canadian Living, Geez and This. Needless to say, she doesn’t exactly have a niche — she just likes a good story.
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Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer, and artist. She is on the faculty at the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning in Denendeh and a distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. She is author of As We Have Always Done, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back, The Gift Is in the Making, Islands of Decolonial Love, and This Accident of Being Lost. Leanne is a member of Alderville First Nation, in Ontario, Canada.
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Lisa Tant is an award-winning editor, writer and media personality – recognized as one of Canada’s leading experts on fashion, beauty and style. She was the editor-in-chief and associate publisher (from 2010) of FLARE, Canada’s bestselling fashion magazine, from 2004 to 2012.
Jackie Kovacs is the magazine editor-in-chief at Metroland Media Group
Journaliste et créatrice de contenu accomplie, Manon Chevalier compte plus de 20 ans d’expérience dans les milieux de l’édition, des médias, de la publicité et des communications. Parallèlement à ses collaborations régulières à ELLE Québec et à Véro, elle mène des mandats de création de contenu (imprimé, numérique, électronique et médias sociaux) pour des sociétés, des boîtes de production et des agences de communication de premier plan, en plus d’agir comme auteure et conseillère à l’édition.
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Marcey Andrews is the art director of New Trail, the University of Alberta’s alumni magazine. She is also the senior designer in Marketing and Communications, University Relations at the University of Alberta. She has won four National Magazine Awards.
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Marvin Orellana has been a photo editor at New York Magazine since 2013. Previously he worked at the New York Times Magazine. He is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he studied photojournalism.
MaryAnn.jpgMaryAnn Camilleri, Founder, The Magenta Foundation, Co- Producer, Edition Toronto Established in 2004, The Magenta Foundation is Canada’s pioneering charitable arts-publishing house. Magenta was created to advocate for and showcase the work of artists in an international context, through circulated exhibitions and publications. Magenta has continued to evolve by finding new and innovative ways to connect artists to the global arts world and is always expanding its publishing departments, to bring the most notable artists forward. Under the Magenta umbrella, there is something for everyone to enjoy and be inspired by. Projects mounted by Magenta are supported with international coverage by the industry’s most renowned media outlets and critical reviews in all traditional media formats.
Matthew Inman.jpgMatthew Inman is the creative director for Spinning Top. Matthew has 25 years experience in the graphic design industry. His career started at International Publishers, Hearst UK and he went on to work as Group Art Director for the prestigious Blue Door Media and Seven publishing companies with a client base that included Next, Fortnum & Mason, BlackRock, Savills and Virgin Holidays. He was an integral part of successful pitches for Canada Poste and the Dove brand in Canada.
Melissa Geurts.jpgMelissa Geurts is a New York-based creative director. Currently, Melissa is the Creative Director at Hearst’s Good Housekeeping magazine, the largest women’s lifestyle magazine reaching an audience of 38+ million readers monthly. Beginning in 2014, Melissa worked alongside Editor-in-Chief, Jane Francisco, to reinvent the 130-year-old brand to create a chic, modern and fresh redesign. At the magazine, Melissa is responsible for the creative direction of the monthly magazine including editorial conceptualization and design execution. Prior to her role at Good Housekeeping, Melissa was the Design Director at Chatelaine, Canada’s largest woman’s magazine and designer at Style at Home. She made the move to NYC in 2014 and is currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. Follow along at @melissageurts
Michael Macaulay
Michael Macaulay oversees the production of the Porter in-flight magazine called re:porter and now, the Porter blog called re:view. He has been with Porter for over 9 years, working with the remarkable Marketing team to create fun creative that makes us smile, and hopefully makes you want to book a flight. His career includes brand and strategic work for a number of global and local clients.
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Nancy Macdonald is an award-winning reporter based in Vancouver. This fall, the Winnipeg native joined The Globe and Mail’s B.C. bureau after 12 years with Maclean’s. Her features often focus on race, racism and social justice.
HeadshotNTurveyNatalie Turvey is Executive Director of The Canadian Journalism Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that promotes and celebrates excellence in journalism, and brings media literacy to greater public through education, research, and one of the industry’s most prestigious annual awards programs. Natalie serves on numerous industry advisory groups and judging committees for journalism organizations, awards and fellowships. Natalie is an experienced media relations, communications, and not-for-profit management professional with more than 15 years of international experience. She has an MBA from the European University in Brussels, Belgium.
nicolas_boissy-303.jpgNicolas Boissy aime le design. Le design d’identité, d’emballage, de l’espace et d’édition attirent particulièrement sa curiosité. Après plus de dix années passées chez orangetango, il est maintenant designer graphique indépendant depuis deux ans. Son travail a été reconnu dans le cadre de divers concours nationaux et internationaux comme AIGA, uVU, Applied Arts, Cannes et Grafika. Son éthique de travail, sa rigueur intellectuelle et son aptitude à voir tous les détails d’un projet en font un atout précieux auprès des collègues et clients.
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Nicolas Langelier est auteur, journaliste, commentateur culturel et éditeur. Il est rédacteur en chef et éditeur du magazine Nouveau Projet.
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Journaliste depuis 25 ans, Pascale Millot a travaillé pour les plus grands médias du Québec, du Devoir à L’actualité, de Radio-Canada à La Presse etChâtelaine. Rédactrice en chef adjointe et reporter au magazine Québec Science pendant 8 ans, elle a remporté plusieurs prix de la Fondation des magazines canadiens. Depuis 2012, elle enseigne la littérature et le journalisme au cégep.
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Paul Roelofs is an editorial art director with over twenty five years of experience working in lifestyle magazines. Roelofs began his career in Canada but soon after was recruited to New York and became art director for Garden Design and Saveur and most notably for InStyle. With work that has been recognized by international award-granting institutions including the Society of Publication Designers and the National Magazine Awards, Roelofs has lectured, taught and judged publication design in Canada and the U.S.
Penny Caldwell Headshot hi-res.jpgPenny is the former Publisher and VP of Cottage Life Media. She was editor of Cottage Life magazine for 15 years before moving into the Publisher’s office in 2016. Under her leadership, the magazine won hundreds of national and international magazine awards. She has taught in Ryerson University’s Magazine and Web Publishing program and is past president of the International Regional Magazine Association and a former director of Canada’s National Magazine Awards Foundation. In 2017, she was presented with the NMA’s Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement. This year, Penny left Cottage Life to start a new chapter pursuing projects that stretch both her creative and her management skills.
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Pete Nguyen is and Art Director, Illustrator and Graphic Designer based in Edmonton.
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Peter Ash Lee is a freelance photographer based in NYC. His clients include New York Times, i-D and British Vogue. In addition to his photography work, Peter is the co-founder and creative director of Corduroy Magazine, an award-winning arts and culture publication.
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Peter McNeill is the Area Marketing Director, GTA at KPMG Canada.
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Philina Chan is the art director at FLARE and HELLO! Canada. She has held previous titles at Chatelaine and Toro in addition to working in experiential marketing at Mosaic.
Daniel Moses.jpgPoet and playwright, Daniel David Moses, a trailblazing First Nations writer, hails from Six Nations Grand River. His most recent poetry collections are River Range (a CD with original music by David Deleary) and ‘A Small Essay on the Largeness of Light’ and Other Poems (2012). His plays include Coyote City (a 1991 Governor General’s nominee) and Almighty Voice and His Wife, now included in The Norton Anthology of Drama, 2nd Edition, Volume 2: The Nineteenth Century to the Present.
Rachel Pulfer is the Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights. Rachel has managed media development projects in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Prior to joining JHR, Rachel was a Canadian Journalism Fellow at Massey College, and a magazine journalist of 10 years’ standing.
Rafi G photo 1.jpgRafi Ghanaghounian is the Executive Director of Keep Six Contemporary Art, a not for profit arts organization dedicated to representing, supporting and promoting the arts nationally and internationally through public events and exhibitions as well as educational programs that attract and engage artists, organizations and the cultural community. Ghanaghounian is an accomplished Curator, gallery operator and promoter with over fifteen years of experience developing, implementing and promoting exhibition and events for individuals and groups in private galleries and public institutions.
RandyVelocciA.JPGRandy Velocci started out as a photojournalist working for magazines, newspapers and on occasion corporate clients for 10 years based in Toronto. When it was time for a career change, he accepted the assistant photo editor position at Canada’s national newspaper The Globe and Mail. For the last 20 years he has been assigning and editing photography assignments from around the world. Stories include news, sports, lifestyle, business and a variety of other topics and issues. As much as he loves assigning he finds the reward is the final edit on what gets published and shared with our readers. Randy has had the pleasure of working with a great many talented photographers and always enjoys seeing how their work impacts people and changes peoples perception on important issues we face in the world today.
Richard Poplak was born and lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. He trained as a filmmaker and fine artist at Montreal’s Concordia University and has produced and directed numerous short films, music videos and commercials. Now a full-time writer, Richard is a senior contributor at South Africa’s leading news site, Daily Maverick, and a frequent contributor to publications all over the world.
RitaLeistnerWPP.jpgRita Leistner is a photographer known for “The Tree Planters,” Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq, The Edward Curtis Project and Looking for Marshall McLuhan in Afghanistan. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally, published widely and are in collections including the Canadian War Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum. She was a finalist for the 2017 Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography at Harvard University, has won three Canadian National Magazine Awards Gold Medals and is a nominee for a 2018 World Press Photo Digital Storytelling Award. Rita has an MA in comparative literature, has planted over 500,000 trees in Canada and is represented by the Stephen Bulger Gallery.
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Sadia Zaman is a senior leader with an extensive career history in media, cultural industries, and not-for-profits. She is a Managing Director at the ROM, and was previously Director, Original Program Development, CBC News and Centres. For three years, Sadia was also the Executive Director of Women in Film and Television-Toronto (WIFT-T), and before she moved to WIFT-T, Sadia helped create hundreds of hours of original, critically acclaimed content for VisionTV.as a writer, producer, director and host. She has won dozens of awards for her journalism, and been honoured by women’s groups for her leadership. Sadia is also a member of several advisory committees on digital initiatives.
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Sandra E. Martin is informed by her rich and varied 25 years as a journalist and audience specialist, and currently heads family communications and content strategy for WE. During her tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Living, the magazine won numerous accolades, including Gold in the Best Media Website category at the 2015 Canadian Online Publishing Awards, and maintained its place as the most-read paid women’s lifestyle publication in print and online. Previously, Sandra helmed the highly successful launch of Walmart Live Better/Vivre mieux Walmart, and served in senior editorial capacities at Today’s Parent. Her byline has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Cottage Life and MoneySense, among others.p
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Sandy Kim, during her 15+ years of experience as a creative director, has worked on beloved magazine titles such as Wish, Glow and Chatelaine, and collaborated with retail brands spanning fashion, health, beauty, décor and food. In addition to her publishing experience, she was the DVP of Creative at Holt Renfrew, where she transformed marketing and branded content initiatives for all channels. Sandy is currently the principal at Aperkoo, a creative agency she founded, where her love for storytelling has helped her build engaging brand and content strategies that anticipate the needs of consumers and readers alike. She is proud to be part of the prestigious jury for the 2018 National Magazine Awards for Best Lifestyle magazine.
Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall’s first book was an account of the year he spent in deep cover, living with the homeless in Toronto’s infamous Tent City. Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City Shantytown was nominated for the 2005 Pearson Writers’ Trust of Canada Non-Fiction Prize, the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize, the Trillium Award and the City of Toronto Book Award. The following year, he was awarded the Knowlton Nash Journalism Fellowship at Massey College and also played the role of Jason – a bad-mannered, well-dressed journalist – on CBC-TV’s The Newsroom. He currently teaches writing at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. Ghosted is his first novel.
Simon Rivest is an artist since forever. He worked 18 years in various national advertising agencies and since 2011, he is the creative director of Ping Pong Ping with his business and life partner Catherine Lepage. The multi-disciplinary creative studio devotes his unique and craft-based approach to collaborations mostly within the cultural sector. Since 2001, he is also part of artistic duo Doyon- Rivest. Their art has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad. Above all else, Simon believes in ideas.
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Sophie Banford est directrice générale et éditrice chez KO Média. Sophie a plus d’une décennie d’expérience dans le domaine. Au fil des années, elle a porté les chapeaux de rédactrice en chef, de directrice de contenus et d’éditrice pour de nombreuses publications de premier plan, dont Châtelaine, Loulou, Clin d’œil, Moi&cie et Signé M – des marques qui ont prospéré parce qu’elle a su accorder autant d’importance à leurs résultats financiers qu’à la production d’articles percutants et visuellement attrayants.
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Stéphane Monnet is the President and Creative Director of Monnet Design, an award-winning studio based in Toronto, best known for transforming and reinvigorating cultural groups and institutions through thoughtful, dynamic and memorable design. Stéphane is also the President of the Advertising and Design Club of Canada, has guest lectured at OCAD University and sits on Humber College’s Graphic Design Advisory Committee. He has been named among the top designers in Canada by both Design Edge Magazine and The Canadian Design Resource. Monnet Design is a previous recipient of the ADCC’s coveted Canadian Design Studio of the Year award and Stéphane has received 100+ awards from Canadian and international design publications and organizations including Communication Arts, The Type Director’s Club, the AIGA, the ADCC, Graphis, Applied Arts, the National Magazine Awards, and HOW Magazine.
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Stephanie Brown is the Senior Producer of the CBC Indigenous Unit, a national unit working across the country to tell Indigenous stories. Stephanie is a Métis producer who has previously worked for VICE as Executive Producer of Digital, Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, The National Film Board and has produced documentaries and series for APTN, SBS Australia, The Tyee and others.
Stéphanie Verge is the executive editor of Reader’s Digest, the co-editor-in-chief of LSTW and a National Magazine Award–winning writer. She is also the co-author of The Bar Chef: A Modern Approach to Cocktails.
Stephen Kimber.jpgStephen Kimber is an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster, and the author of nine books, including one novel and eight nonfiction books. He is a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of King’s College in Halifax and co-founder of the King’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction program.
Stephen Trumper.jpgStephen Trumper Is a journalism instructor at Ryerson University and the back-page columnist for Abilities magazine. A former recipient of the Foundation award for outstanding achievement, Stephen has worked as an editor for the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Harrowsmith and Financial Post Business magazine.
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Sue Carter is editor-in-chief at Quill & Quire and national books columnist for Metro News.
Susan de CartierSusan de Cartier has been managing artists and developing talent since 1990. Forming Starfish Entertainment in 1995, the company has been involved in the creation and release of more than 50 albums. The company’s roster of clients includes Blue Rodeo, Jim Cuddy, The Sadies, Oh Susanna, Skydiggers and Harrow Fair. Over the course of her career, Susan has guided Blue Rodeo on to become one of the most successful bands in Canadian history garnering 12 Junos and selling over four million albums worldwide to date. Starfish also manages The Woodshed Recording Studio. Susan sits on the Board of Directors for the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) and the Music Managers Forum.
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Susan Langdon is the Executive Director of the award-winning non-profit organization, the Toronto Fashion Incubator (TFI), the world’s first fashion incubator. Susan has been responsible for the daily operation and management of the organization since 1994. For her dedication to the fashion industry and to fostering new talent, Susan has received numerous awards from prestigious organizations such as Ryerson University, City of Toronto, Organization of Women in International Trade and Fashion Group International.
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Susan Scott is the nonfiction editor of The New Quarterly (TNQ), associate director of the Wild Writers Literary Festival and a member of Native-Immigrant arts collective. Works-in-progress include Sainted Dirt: Reckonings with Land, Family, Language, and Imperfect Teaware. Body & Soul, an edited collection of intimate, transgressive essays by diverse women writers, will appear in 2019.
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Tania Jiménez is an independent art director and graphic designer based in Montreal. For the last 20 years, working in different countries, she has been shaping the aesthetics, content, and practical landscape of diverse projects, particularly in editorial design, branding and packaging. She is also co-founder and partner of Caribou magazine.
Tanja.jpgTanja-Tiziana is Visual Artist & Pro Photographer based in Toronto, Canada. They specialize in editorial photography and stills for film & television. Past roles include Managing Editor of BlogTO, Managing Photographer of Yonge Street Magazine, and most recently, Staff Photographer at Toronto’s only independent weekly, Now Magazine. In 2016, they published their first photo book, a decade-long documentary series titled, “Buzzing Lights: The Fading Neon Landscape of North America.”
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Trish Magwood is a food and lifestyle entrepreneur who has spent her career in retail, media and start ups as a business owner. She’s produced and hosted shows for Food Network and done regular guest appearances on Canada and US networks. Trish created and hosted party dish – (Food Network Canada, Slice, Fine Living US and 70 countries worldwide) an entertaining and lifestyle television show sharing her passion and knowledge for food and entertaining. Trish was also a judge on 26 episodes of Food Network Canada’s Family Cook-Off in 2011. Trish has published two cookbooks – the award-winning, best sellers dish entertains (Harper Collins), and In My Mother’s Kitchen (Harper Collins spring 2011). Trish is a freelance food and lifestyle consultant who has written for The Globe & Mail. Trish does frequent appearances and shows on CBC Radio, NBC’s Today Show, Rogers CityLine and BT, CTV’s Canada AM, The Marilyn Denis Show, Canadian Family and Today’s Parent. Trish lives in Toronto with her three children.
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 Vicky Lee is the art director of Designlines magazine, as well as the associate art director of the award-winning Azure magazine.

FINALISTS & WINNERS
The nominees for 2018 will be unveiled on Tuesday, May 1, 2018, at 10 AM EST. Follow us on Twitter @magawards or at blog.magazine-awards.com for the most up-to-date news.

The winners will be announced at the 41st Annual National Magazine Awards gala, set for June 1, 2018 at the Arcadian Court in Toronto. Details to follow. 

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