The National Media Awards Foundation (NMAF) is proud to present the 2018 Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement to Joyce Byrne, publisher of Avenue Calgary at RedPoint Media & Marketing Solutions.
If you are passionate about Canadian publishing, you have met or worked with Joyce. Described as a “champion of magazines,” Joyce has an all-in approach to her work that makes her stand out.
“Joyce doesn’t look for easy,” notes Penny Caldwell, former editor and publisher of Cottage Life. “Since bursting onto the magazine publishing scene, she has consistently reached beyond her own sphere to help others.”
Just before launching her career in the early 2000s, Joyce took a publishing course with D. B. Scott at Ryerson University. There, she met Anicka Quin, who is now editorial director of Western Living and Vancouver magazines. Quin recalls the meeting: “[Joyce] was there with her wicked sense of humour, and she quickly stood out as one of the only ones there who was really ready to be a part of this industry.”
And ready, she was. During her tenure as publisher of This Magazine, from 2001 to 2005, the publication excelled on the business and editorial side.
“This Magazine has only been nominated once in its 52-year history for Magazine of the Year at the National Magazine Awards and it was during Joyce’s time as publisher, a testament to her leadership and the excellent magazine it produced,” notes Lisa Whittington-Hill, Joyce’s successor and current publisher of This.
In 2005, Joyce left This Magazine in the capable hands of Whittington-Hill and moved to Edmonton, joining award-winning Venture Publishing as vice-president and associate publisher. There, she focused her work on Alberta Venture and unlimited magazines. In 2008, unlimited became the first Alberta-based magazine to win a National Magazine Award for Art Direction of an Entire Issue, a remarkable achievement for the team of the newly launched publication. During that time, Joyce also helped launch Eighteen Bridges, a literary magazine with an impressive collection of National Magazine Awards.
In 2014, Joyce moved some 300 kilometers south and became publisher of yet another celebrated magazine: Avenue Calgary. So brilliantly has she led the team of the award-winning lifestyle publication that her role was recently expanded to group publisher.
As a publisher, Joyce favors a collaborative approach.
“While she knows so much about the industry and magazines—from an encyclopedic knowledge of cover concepts published around the world to an up-to-the-minute grasp on the leading ideas about where the industry is going and how to improve sales—she is a great collaborator and listens to ideas and input from all levels of her staff,” affirms Käthe Lemon, editor-in-chief of Avenue Calgary.
“Of all the people I’ve worked for or with, I have rarely if ever had the opportunity to work with anyone more dedicated to the magazine publishing industry or who loves magazines more—indeed, I’m not sure such a person exists,” Lemon adds.
A quick glance at her career illuminates Joyce’s commitment to magazine publishing. Throughout the years, she has worked with magazines ranging in topics from trade, politics and literature to business and city life, and remains as passionate as ever about magazines. In addition to her role as publisher and her various pro bono commitments, Joyce still lends a hand as a proofreader for the semi-annual literary magazine Taddle Creek.
“Volunteering is something we’re all supposed to do, to give something back to our community and our industry,” observes veteran magazine writer David Hayes. “Most of us have the best intentions. Some of us manage one or two commitments around our busy lives. Joyce is a tireless volunteer for countless causes, mostly associated in some way with magazine publishing or writing, in addition to all her paid duties.”
To say that Joyce’s volunteer experience is impressive would be an understatement. She served as a director of Magazines Canada from 2002-2012, where she sat on the public affairs and small magazines committees, curriculum development task forces, and the professional development committee, which she chaired from 2007-2013. In addition, Joyce has served on program development committees for the Ontario Media Development Corporation, on the board of Word on the Street (Toronto)—where she helped develop the successful Canadian Magazines reading tent—and on the board of Edmonton’s Theatre Network. In 2008-2009, Joyce chaired the Advertising Club of Edmonton (ACE) Awards, and from 2010-2014, the Edmonton Cannes Reel Screening fundraiser for National Advertising Benevolent Society (NABS). In 2013, Joyce received the ACE Fellowship Award, and was also named to the NABS Honour Roll the previous year.
Joyce has also served as a director of the National Media Awards Foundation, including a two-year term as president, and still remains involved as a board member. An industry builder, she is currently president of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association (AMPA) and a director of both the National Advertising Benevolent Society (Western Chapter) and the International Regional Magazine Association (IRMA).
Her efforts are noted and lauded by colleagues.
“I would be hard pressed to find a publishing professional more enthusiastic, engaged and knowledgeable about the magazine media industry than Joyce Byrne. She is a champion of the industry—its people, products and readers,” says Suzanne Trudel, executive director of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association.
Earlier this year, AMPA recognized Joyce’s publishing expertise by awarding her its Achievement in Publishing Award.
For her dedication and enthusiasm for a stronger and more inclusive Canadian magazine industry, her tireless advocacy for service and volunteerism, and her inspiring leadership in magazine publishing, the National Media Awards Foundation is proud to honour Joyce Byrne, a self-proclaimed “magazine junkie,” with the 2018 Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement.
NOMINEES – 41st NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS
Finalists for the 41st National Magazine Awards will be announced tomorrow, May 1, 2018 at 10am ET on www.magazine-awards.com, blog.magazine-awards.com and on Twitter at @MagAwards. The 41st National Magazine Awards gala is set for June 1, 2018 at the Arcadian Court. Join us to Celebrate Canadian Creators. Tickets will be on sale on Tuesday, May 1.
ABOUT THE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The NMAF’s most prestigious individual prize is the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement, an award that recognizes an individual’s innovation and creativity through contributions to the magazine industry. The award is open to circulation experts, editors, marketing, sales and promotion professionals, publishers, creators, designers, production managers – in short, to everyone in the industry. It cannot be given posthumously.
The Judging Committee of the National Media Awards Foundation considers the nominations, along with nominations from members of the Committee itself. The Board of the National Media Awards Foundation selects the winner. For more information and previous winners, visit magazine-awards.com/oa.
Photo of Joyce Byrne by Jared Sych.
